Gerina Pillar Moving Towards That Elusive First Win

Gerina Pillar may have come up short in at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout but this is a player who seems so very ready to win.

We first heard of Pillar awhile back but she was billed as a member of the ”husband and wife” who both play professional golf. Indeed, her husband Martin is on the PGA Tour for his second full time season and the two of them were both in contention last week in their respective tournaments. We even got to see some of her on the 2009 version of The Golf Channel’s Big Break.

Pillar, the LPGA player, had a robust 2015 and earned her way onto her second Solheim Cup Team and actually made a critical putt to extend the match on the way to the U.S. Team’s miracle comeback win. She was an impressive 3-0-1 for the match.

Pillar looked to be a player with guts and grit and the 2106 season doesn’t look to be any different.

After a slow start this season has been a series of high finishes that always has her in contention.

Her T2 at the Texas Shootout is her fourth straight top ten finish and the fifth in her last six tournaments.

The past few years she has been steadily climbing the LPGA money list. In ’12 she finished 48^th, in ’13 26^th, a brief drop in ’14 had her at 39^th but a solid 2015 earned her $727,681 and 18^th on the money list.

While her earnings have risen so has her world rankings. Last year at this time she ranked 47^th on the Official Rolex World Rankings. At the start of this season she had moved to 28^th and with her finish this week she is sure to move up from her current 20^th slot.

Pillar is having an outstanding season and while other American stars like Stacy Lewis struggles to find a win and Michelle Wie struggles to find her game Pillar is a bright spot in America Woman’s golf.

Lewis still leads in Solheim Cup points and Lexi Thompson is the highest ranked American (3) in the world rankings and the only American with a win this year on tour but Pillar is that rare American who is actually moving up in the rankings.

Jenny Shin may have won yesterday but Pillar continues to put herself in the mix week after week. It won’t be long before she herself finally breaks through and claims her first victory.