Mo Martin

Mo Martin
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name Melissa Linda Martin
Nickname Mo
Born (1982-10-08) October 8, 1982
Pasadena, California
Height 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m)
Nationality  United States
Residence Naples, Florida
Career
College UCLA
Turned professional 2005
Current tour(s) LPGA Tour (joined 2012)
Former tour(s) Futures Tour (2006–11)
Professional wins 4
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour 1
Symetra Tour 3
Best results in LPGA major championships
ANA Inspiration T14: 2016
Women's PGA C'ship T17: 2014, 2016
U.S. Women's Open T21: 2016
Women's British Open Won: 2014
Evian Championship T57: 2013

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]

College career

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

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

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, then past age 90. 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)

LPGA Tour wins (1)

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 Women's British Open 69-69-77-72=287 −1 1 stroke China Shanshan Feng
Norway Suzann Pettersen

Futures Tour wins (3)

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] Sweden Caroline Larsson[12]
2 Jul 27, 2008 USI Championship 71-66-67=204 −12 4 strokes United States Gerina Mendoza[13]
3 Aug 14, 2011 Eagle Classic 70-67-66=203 −13 3 strokes United States Cara Freeman

Major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunners-up
2014 Women's British Open 3 shot deficit −1 (69-69-77-72=287) 1 stroke China Shanshan Feng, Norway Suzann Pettersen

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
ANA Inspiration DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T70 T66 T29 T51 T14
Women's PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T30 T37 T17 T26 T17
U.S. Women's Open CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T42 CUT T35 T21
Women's British Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP 57 CUT 1 CUT T2
The Evian Championship ^ T57 DNP CUT CUT

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
ANA Inspiration 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 5
Women's PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 5
U.S. Women's Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 3
Women's British Open 1 1 0 2 2 2 5 3
The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
Totals 1 1 0 2 2 6 24 17

References

  1. 1 2 3 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.
  2. ↑ "Profile at UCLA sports site". Archived from the original on September 2, 2012.
  3. ↑ Elliott, Helene (July 22, 2014). "Perseverance paid off for ex-UCLA golfer Mo Martin at British Open". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  4. ↑ "About Mo". Mo Martin Golf. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Mo Martin Voted By Peers As Winner Of Heather Wilbur Spirit Award". Futures Tour. September 6, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Mo Martin wins British Open". ESPN. Associated Press. July 13, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Mo Martin Eagles 18 to win Women's British Open". Golf Channel. July 12, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Rolex Rankings Move of the Week: Mo Martin". LPGA. July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Chandler School Alumni".
  10. 1 2 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.
  11. ↑ The Sports Network (May 7, 2007). "Martin birdies 18th for Duramed Futures win". Monsters and Critics. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  12. ↑ Guriby Hilland, Camilla (May 7, 2007). "Svakt av framtidsjentene" [Week of future girls] (in Norwegian). Golferen. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  13. ↑ Faretra, Gavin (July 28, 2008). "A sight to behold". Concord Monitor. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
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