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Mo Martin
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Melissa Linda "Mo" Martin (born October 8, 1982) is an American professional golfer playing on the LPGA Tour. Her sole win on the tour was a major championship, the Women's British Open in 2014.[1]
Key Information
College career
[edit]Martin played college golf all four years at UCLA,[2] walking-on as a freshman.[3] She was the Bruins' Most Valuable Player in 2002, earned UCLA academic honors, and was also a three-time Pac-10 Academic Honorable Mention selection.[4] She graduated in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
Professional career
[edit]Martin turned professional in 2005, and joined the Futures Tour on January 23, 2006. She played in the 2007 U.S. Women's Open and missed the cut. Martin was the 2010 recipient of the Futures Tour's Heather Wilbur Spirit Award, presented annually to the player who "best exemplifies dedication, courage, perseverance, love of the game and spirit toward achieving goals as a professional golfer." The annual recipient is nominated by her peers on the tour.[5] In 2011, with 11 top-10 finishes and 1 victory, she earned full playing privileges on the LPGA Tour for the 2012 season.
Martin won the Women's British Open in 2014, her first major championship and also her first LPGA Tour title. She led after 36 holes, but a 77 (+5) on Saturday dropped her three strokes back. An eagle at the final hole on Sunday gave her the victory, one stroke ahead of runners-up Shanshan Feng and Suzann Pettersen.[6][7] It was Martin's first eagle of the 2014 season and the win moved her from 99 to 26 in the women's world rankings.[8] Her previous best finish in a major was a tie for 29th at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Personal
[edit]Born in Pasadena, California, Martin attended Chandler School.[9] Her father, Allen Martin, was a defense attorney and taught her to play golf as a child, using Ben Hogan's Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. Allen died of a heart attack when Mo was in college at age 20, and she then established a relationship with her paternal grandfather, Lincoln Martin, who was over 90 years old. Before Allen's death, Mo and Lincoln had minimal interaction, due to a strained father-son relationship. During her early years as a professional on the Futures Tour, Lincoln was her chief supporter and mentor. He died in March 2014 at age 102, about four months before she won her major title in England.[1][10]
Her nickname "Mo" was given to her by her father, in reference to the U.S.S. Missouri,[1][10] a famous battleship of World War II that served the U.S. Navy into the 1990s.
She currently resides in Naples, Florida.
Professional wins (4)
[edit]LPGA Tour wins (1)
[edit]| Legend |
|---|
| Major championships (1) |
| Other LPGA Tour events (0) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 13, 2014 | Ricoh Women's British Open[1] | 69-69-77-72=287 | −1 | 1 stroke |  Shanshan Feng Suzann Pettersen
|
1 Co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour.
Futures Tour wins (3)
[edit]| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 6, 2007 | El Paso Golf Classic | 69-71-67=207 | −9 | 1 stroke[11] |  Caroline Larsson[12]
|
| 2 | Jul 27, 2008 | USI Championship | 71-66-67=204 | −12 | 4 strokes |  Gerina Mendoza[13]
|
| 3 | Aug 14, 2011 | Eagle Classic | 70-67-66=203 | −13 | 3 strokes | Cara Freeman
|
Major championships
[edit]Wins (1)
[edit]| Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Women's British Open | 3 shot deficit | −1 (69-69-77-72=287) | 1 stroke | Shanshan Feng, Suzann Pettersen
|
Results timeline
[edit]Results not in chronological order before 2019.
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevron Championship | T70 | T66 | T29 | T51 | T14 | T63 | CUT | T21 | ||||||
| U.S. Women's Open | CUT | CUT | T42 | CUT | T35 | T21 | CUT | CUT | ||||||
| Women's PGA Championship | T30 | T37 | T17 | T26 | T17 | CUT | T33 | |||||||
| The Evian Championship ^ | T57 | CUT | CUT | T26 | T2 | |||||||||
| Women's British Open | 57 | CUT | 1 | CUT | T2 | T49 | T39 | |||||||
| Tournament | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Chevron Championship | ||
| U.S. Women's Open | ||
| Women's PGA Championship | CUT | CUT |
| The Evian Championship ^ | ||
| Women's British Open | CUT | T51 |
^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Summary
[edit]| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevron Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 |
| U.S. Women's Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| Women's PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 6 |
| The Evian Championship | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Women's British Open | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 6 |
| Totals | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 39 | 25 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (three times)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Mickey, Lisa D. (August 13, 2014). "Cutting a path to the course, with the help of her family". New York Times. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
- ^ "Profile at UCLA sports site". Archived from the original on September 2, 2012.
- ^ Elliott, Helene (July 22, 2014). "Perseverance paid off for ex-UCLA golfer Mo Martin at British Open". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
- ^ "About Mo". Mo Martin Golf. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
- ^ "Mo Martin Voted By Peers As Winner Of Heather Wilbur Spirit Award". Futures Tour. September 6, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
- ^ "Mo Martin wins British Open". ESPN. Associated Press. July 13, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ "Mo Martin Eagles 18 to win Women's British Open". Golf Channel. July 12, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
- ^ "Rolex Rankings Move of the Week: Mo Martin". LPGA. July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ "Chandler School Alumni". Facebook.
- ^ a b Leonard, Tod (March 25, 2013). "LPGA's Mo Martin learns life lessons from 101-year-old grandpa". U-T San Diego. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
- ^ The Sports Network (May 7, 2007). "Martin birdies 18th for Duramed Futures win". Monsters and Critics. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
- ^ Guriby Hilland, Camilla (May 7, 2007). "Svakt av framtidsjentene" [Week of future girls] (in Norwegian). Golferen. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
- ^ Faretra, Gavin (July 28, 2008). "A sight to behold". Concord Monitor. Retrieved August 15, 2011.[permanent dead link]
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Mo Martin at the LPGA Tour official site
- Mo Martin at the Women's World Golf Rankings official site