Mo Martin
{{short description|American professional golfer}}
{{for|the basketball player|Maurice Martin}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox golfer
| name = Mo Martin
| image =
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| fullname = Melissa Linda Martin
| nickname = Mo
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1982|10|8}}
| birth_place = Pasadena, California, U.S.
| death_date =
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| height = {{height|ft=5|in=1}}
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| nationality = {{USA}}
| residence = Naples, Florida, U.S.
| spouse =
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| children =
| college = UCLA
| yearpro = 2005
| retired =
| tour = LPGA Tour (joined 2012)
| extour = Futures Tour (2006–11)
| prowins = 4
| lpgawins = 1
| letwins =
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| futwins = 3
| otherwins =
| majorwins =
| nabisco = T14: 2016
| lpga = T17: 2014, 2016
| wusopen = T21: 2016
| wbritopen = Won: 2014
| evian = T2: 2018
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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.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/sports/golf/mo-martins-long-journey-to-lpga-.html?_r=0 |newspaper=New York Times |title=Cutting a path to the course, with the help of her family |last=Mickey |first=Lisa D.|date=August 13, 2014 |accessdate=August 26, 2014 }}
College career
Martin played college golf all four years at UCLA,{{cite web |url=http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/w-golf/mtt/martin_melissa00.html |title=Profile at UCLA sports site |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902071916/http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/w-golf/mtt/martin_melissa00.html |archivedate=September 2, 2012}} walking-on as a freshman.{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-mo-martin-elliott-20140723-column.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |last=Elliott |first=Helene |title=Perseverance paid off for ex-UCLA golfer Mo Martin at British Open |date=July 22, 2014 |accessdate=August 26, 2014 }} 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.{{cite web |publisher=Mo Martin Golf |url=http://www.momartingolf.com/about-mo/ |title=About Mo |accessdate=July 12, 2014}} 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.{{cite web |publisher=Futures Tour |url=http://www.lpgafuturestour.com/content_1.aspx?mid=4&pid=27859#story4 |title=Mo Martin Voted By Peers As Winner Of Heather Wilbur Spirit Award |date=September 6, 2010 |accessdate=August 16, 2011}} 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.{{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/11210006/mo-martin-wins-women-british-open-eagle-18 |work=ESPN |agency=Associated Press |title=Mo Martin wins British Open |date=July 13, 2014 |access-date=July 14, 2014}}{{cite news |work=Golf Channel |url=http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/martin-eagles-18-win-womens-british-open/ |title=Mo Martin Eagles 18 to win Women's British Open |date=July 12, 2014 |accessdate=July 12, 2014}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.lpga.com/golf/blogs/2014/7/rolex-move-ricoh-martin.aspx |publisher=LPGA |title=Rolex Rankings Move of the Week: Mo Martin |date=July 14, 2014 |accessdate=July 14, 2014 }} 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=732136606827681 |title=Chandler School Alumni|website=Facebook }} 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.{{cite news |url=http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/mar/25/lpga-mo-martin-grandfather/ |newspaper=U-T San Diego |last=Leonard |first=Tod |title=LPGA's Mo Martin learns life lessons from 101-year-old grandpa |date=March 25, 2013 |accessdate=August 26, 2014}}
Her nickname "Mo" was given to her by her father, in reference to the U.S.S. Missouri, 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)=
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"
! Legend |
| style="background:#e5d1cb;"
|Major championships (1) |
| Other LPGA Tour events (0) |
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"
!No. !Date !Tournament !Winning score !To par !Margin of !Runners-up |
| style="background:#e5d1cb;"
|align=center|1 |align=right|Jul 13, 2014 |69-69-77-72=287 |align=center|−1 |1 stroke |{{flagicon|CHN}} Shanshan Feng |
=Futures Tour wins (3)=
Major championships
=Wins (1)=
| class="wikitable"
!Year!!Championship!!54 holes!!Winning score!!Margin!!Runners-up | |||||
| style="background:#ABCDEF;"
| 2014 | Women's British Open | 3 shot deficit | −1 (69-69-77-72=287) | 1 stroke | {{flagicon|CHN}} Shanshan Feng, {{flagicon|NOR}} Suzann Pettersen |
=Results timeline=
Results not in chronological order before 2019.
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;text-align:center;"
!! Tournament !! 2007 !! 2008 !! 2009 !! 2010 !! 2011 !! 2012 !! 2013 !! 2014 !! 2015 !! 2016 !! 2017 !! 2018 !! 2019 !! 2020 |
| align=left|Chevron Championship
|style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |T70 |T66 |T29 |T51 |T14 |T63 |CUT |T21 |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |
| align=left|U.S. Women's Open
|CUT |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |CUT |T42 |CUT |T35 |T21 |CUT |CUT |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |
| align=left|Women's PGA Championship
|style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |T30 |T37 |T17 |T26 |T17 |CUT |T33 |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |
| align=left|The Evian Championship ^
|style="background:#eeeeee;" colspan=6| |T57 |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |CUT |CUT |T26 |style="background:yellow;"|T2 |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |
| align=left|Women's British Open
|style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |57 |CUT |style="background:lime;"|1 |CUT |style="background:yellow;"|T2 |T49 |T39 |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;text-align:center;"
!! Tournament !! 2021 !! 2022 |
| align=left|Chevron Championship
|style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |
| align=left|U.S. Women's Open
|style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |
| align=left|Women's PGA Championship
|CUT |CUT |
| align=left|The Evian Championship ^
|style="background:#eeeeee;"| |style="background:#eeeeee;"| |
| align=left|Women's British Open
|CUT |T51 |
^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013
{{legend|lime|Win}}
{{legend|yellow|Top 10}}
{{legend|#eeeeee|Did not play}}
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
=Summary=
| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
!Tournament !! Wins !! 2nd !! 3rd !! Top-5 !! Top-10 !! Top-25 !! Events !! Cuts made | ||||||||
| align=left|Chevron Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 |
| align=left|U.S. Women's Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| align=left|Women's PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 6 |
| align=left|The Evian Championship | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| align=left|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
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.momartingolf.com/}}
- {{LPGA player|mo-martin/87662}}
- {{WWGR|2481}}
{{Women's British Open Champions}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Mo}}
Category:American female golfers
Category:UCLA Bruins women's golfers
Category:Winners of LPGA major golf championships