Martin

Piller

The Texan cracked the field through Monday Qualifying this week and showing no signs of slowing down through two days. He’s traded 11 birdies with two bogeys through two days at Detroit Golf Club. Today, he set up a load of chances from inside 20 feet but just three inside 12 feet. He converted two of those mid-range chances from 17'5" and 19'8" while also converting on all three from inside 12 feet. Piller ranks 2nd on the live leaderboard in strokes gained putting (+5.403 SGP). The 33-year-old finds himself splitting time between the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour this season. He’s 208th in the FedExCup standings and 183rd on the KFT money list so there wasn’t a lot of indicators to suggest that a good week was on the horizon.

The 33-year-old, who checked in off back-to-back missed cuts, landed 10 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation. His lone blemish was double bogey-6 at hole 7, smothered by eight birdies at 1, 2, 6 (hole out), 9, 12, 15, 17 and 18. The Texas A&M alum posted 1.500 putts per GIR, currently No. 1 in that stat thru 54 holes at 1.571, and took just 24 total putts. He also holed out for par at 16. This is his 82nd career start and his best finish among four top 10s is T3 at the 2018 CareerBuilder. The Dallas native and resident is a six-time champ on the Web.com in 156 events.

The Texan is playing this season on conditional status so this week presents a much-needed opportunity to pad some FedExCup Points. In round one he split just six (of 14) fairways on his way toward 12 greens. Those numbers weren’t too far from the field average on a day where the wind was really whipping. His short game was strong as he still manages six birdies to erase a pair of blemishes. Piller’s previous two visits to Coco Beach GC resulted in missed cuts (2011, 2016).

Piller missed the cut in his 2011 Desert Classic debut but returned with a T24 in 2016 and then soared into a T3 last year. The Texan was a magician on and around the greens last year. He needed just 101 putts for the entire week (24-28-23-26). A hot putter is nothing unusual for Piller so gamers will be hoping for a steady ball-striking week if they are dipping their toes in the Piller pool. The 33-year-old went 2-for-3 during the fall with a T54 at the Sanderson Farms and T32 at The RSM Classic.

The Dallas resident was the first man out of the Playoffs at 126th. Starts will be tougher to come by out of the 125-to-150 category (conditional). In the fall he earned three starts. First he missed the cut at the Safeway and followed it up with T54 and T32 finishes at the Sanderson Farms and RSM Classic, respectively. Piller relies heavily on the flat stick which makes him a boom-or-bust play from week to week.

The rookie has had a tough year, cashing just seven times in 21 starts with a lone top-35 payday, but it all came together today. He hit 17 greens and needed only 28 putts to match his career low on the PGA TOUR (2009 Valero Texas Open). Seven of his birdies measured over 11 feet in length, including conversions of 33'3", 25'11", 20'7" and 23'10" at the sixth, 10th, 12th and 16th holes, respectively. He signed his card one stroke adrift of the overnight co-leaders.

The Dallas native is making his tournament debut, but there is a very good chance the local boy has seen this venue many times prior to the week. He opened on the back nine, collected eight pars and squared one bogey before making the turn. The bogey came at the par-4 12th hole where he went bunker-to-bunker then splashed out for a tap-in bogey. The fireworks started on the inward nine as he engineered a three-hole birdie train starting at the par-5 first hole. All three putts coming from 7-to-13 feet. He wasn’t done yet, as he circled three more birdies coming in and swallowed just one bogey in between. Piller recorded his first career top 10 earlier in the season at the Valero Texas Open, so he may be a plug-and-play at Texas events moving forward.

This was the 30-year-old’s tourney debut and he co-led after 36 holes with a pair of 66s. He chased with a hard-fought 68 to begin the final frame on 10-under (T4), two back of Spieth. The Web.com Tour was chasing his maiden TOUR title in his 39th career start and had posted a career-best T4 at the Valero five weeks ago. He wrapped up with five bogeys overshadowing four birdies but nets his second top 10 of the season in 14 starts.

The sponsor invite began the third round co-leading with Webb Simpson after opening his tourney debut with a pair of 66s. He played out of the final threesome with Simpson and now 54-hole leader Jordan Spieth, who shot 65. The Dallas native found half (of 14) fairways and hit 12 greens in regulation, circling birdies on Nos. 1, 6, 11, 13 and a walk-off from 35 inches at the par-4 last. He dropped shots on 3 and 16 on failed scrambles and three-putted the fifth from 37'10" for bogey-5. Piller will play out of the third-to-last twosome on Sunday and trails Spieth by two.

Simpson posted his aggregate yesterday while Piller returned on Saturday morning to put his on the board. He was 1-under thru six holes, 5-under total when play was suspended on Friday due to darkness. The Dallas native and resident circled the ninth and the 10th after the restart, the latter a bomb from 44'4", but got so excited he canceled them out with a double bogey-7 at 11. He righted the ship from there, with further birdies at Nos. 13, 15 and 18, walking-off with a 19-inch gimme after hitting his approach from 122 yards stiff.