UTEP Miners

You probably improved as much as any player in the history of UTEP Golf from your freshman year to your final college tournament. What was the key and what did you take from coach Pelletier over four years?
I was pretty new to the game [when I got to UTEP], so I had lots to learn. I just picked coach's brain because he had so much information. I felt like I was a little sponge. I played a lot with the men's team at Lone Star [Golf Club] because I was new at golf; I had just started playing in 2000. I grew up playing sports and golf just came a little harder for me.

You spent a few years on the Futures Tour after leaving UTEP. What struck you initially as being the biggest differences between the college and pro game?
When I went from college to the Futures Tour, the group of girls got smaller and better. By the time you're a senior in college, you're like a big fish in a small pond and when you go to the Futures Tour you're back to square one, kind of like a freshman, like a small fish in a big pond. You're moving up in the ranks and the golf is just getting that much better. It's a big change.

What were the biggest things that you realized you needed to improve on to qualify for the tour?
I think the big thing was developing consistency and really figuring out what was best for my game. Golf becomes your job. It's easy to get caught up in being out there 12 hours a day and you can wear yourself out. It's very important to find what works for you. I felt that at first I wasn't really listening to my golf game. I get more out of just playing 18 holes and then if there's something I need to work on, I do it afterwards. I'm not big on practicing. But it's just one of those things where I needed to find out what works best for me and it's a big change from college. You don't have your coach there holding your hand and telling you to be here at this time, and this is your practice round time, and we're going to meet in the morning and I'll drive you here. It's basically all on you. It definitely was an eye opener.

In 2009, you were a contestant on Big Break Prince Edward Island. How did that further your development?
I felt like I was a pretty shy person to begin with and I always heard the horror stories about the reality shows, so I didn't want to say anything. I just wanted to keep to myself. It's very nerve wrecking when you have like 12 cameras on you at all times listening to everything you say. It kind of wasn't golf, because you are just given one shot, one and done. In golf, you have multiple shots and multiple holes to rebound if you hit a bad one. Not only did it help me with my golf game being in the spotlight, but it helped me as a person to kind of come out of my shell. My goal was to be on the LPGA Tour where there are going to be cameras, where there are going to be spotlights and you're on this pedestal. I think that was kind of a stepping stone, to break me out of the little shell that I lived in.

You finished fifth on the Futures Tour money list in 2010, earning full playing privileges on the LPGA Tour for 2011. Talk about how that felt, to realize a lifelong dream.
It doesn't really hit you until you start your LPGA season. I had a season's worth of good play. That really gave me a big confidence boost, that I played well the whole year to get my card. It was really surreal because I was like `Whoa, I'm going to be on the LPGA Tour!' I always thought I was going to be a professional athlete and never thought I was going to be a golfer, and here I am about to start my season with the best golfers in the world. It was a really cool time in my life.

What has been the highlight of your pro career to this point?
Well, it just happened at Solheim, making the putt on the last hole to basically keep our hopes and dreams alive. I've always been very patriotic and I love my country. You grow up watching the Olympics and for golf, I'm playing with the best women in the world. To be in the top-12 and represent your country, there is no greater honor.

Take us through the experience at the Solheim Cup in Germany, making that putt.
I had been playing well all week and I had been putting well. I just had an errant iron shot on 17, kind of a similar putt and I missed it for bogey. I left my iron shot a little right and tipped it up there. I knew that punt meant something. Getting the full point on Sunday in singles is huge. And so for me, that was my goal starting the day. Just take care of business, get your point and that's all you can control. I glanced at the video board and saw 13 and a half. And I was like, `Oh my gosh.' Clearly I'm a math major and I know that they need half a point, and this is for half a point.

This is kind of what you prepare for [in practice]. Before you go home, you say `I'm just going to get one last putt. This is a putt to win the U.S. Open or to win the Solheim Cup.' As much as you can practice for it or prepare for it, I don't think it's ever the same. But you have put yourself in those situations. I really just tried to go back to my routine and focus on the process and not the results. I read it and looked over it, and the only thing you can do is make a good stroke. That is what I was focused on. My coach and I talk about being great on every shot. Not just getting up there and hitting it, but asking yourself, `How good can I hit the shot?' I was asking myself, `How good can you roll this putt on this line?' And to hit that putt and see it come off the putter exactly how I envisioned it and go straight into the hole, it was awesome.

Your record bears out that you have improved every year on the tour. How are you still trying to fine-tune your game?
Right now, I think it comes down to short game. It comes down to putting and chipping. I have always been a pretty good ball striker. You can probably ask any guy or girl that I went to college with, and they would say `You're pretty good but you're terrible at putting.' So I kind of have this cloud hanging over me that I was a terrible putter. But now I have matured as a person and I feel like I'm a great putter. Look at Jordan Spieth. He hit it all over the place on Sunday, but he was getting up and down like a madman. That is obviously where you can always be better.

You are married to Martin Piller, another professional golfer. How have you managed to balance each other's careers?
The cons are we travel twice as much because of my schedule and his schedule. We don't try to avoid golf, but we definitely don't make it who we are. If I can help him, I'll ask and vice versa. If it needs to be talked about, we do. I feel like since we're both professional golfers, our schedules are pretty flexible. We are basically our own boss and make our own schedules. I feel like we would actually see each other more being professional golfers than if, say, I stayed at home and had a job back in Texas where I didn't have the flexibility to get up and go. If I miss the cut, I can change a flight and fly to where he is and vice versa.

So it has actually been pretty cool and he understands when I go through tough times or great times. I think that's one of the things that makes it so special, and probably why we were so emotional after I made that putt because we both understand. It's just so rewarding to work so hard and be successful. It's definitely like a marathon where you get to the end and it's so satisfying when you have worked so hard and get what you want.

What advice would you give to the members of this year's UTEP team?
If you have the dedication and work ethic, you can make it. If you want to get really technical, I would not let them go to the driving range. I would make them chip and putt until they are blue in the face. I can't stress enough with professional golfers how important it is to be able to chip and putt and get up and down. We are not good at what we do because we hit perfect shots. We are good at what we do because we can hit it in the trees and we can get out and make par, or scramble and make a birdie when it's not perfectly down the middle or two feet from the hole. Short game is so important, and just having the will and love and passion for the game.