Melissa Linda "Mo" Martin (born October 8, 1982) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

playing on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

. Her sole win on the tour was a major championship, the

Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

College career

Martin played college golf all four years at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, walking-on as a freshman. She was the Bruins' Most Valuable Player in 2002, earned UCLA academic honors, and was also a three-time

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Academic Honorable Mention selection. She graduated in 2005 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in psychology.

Professional career

Martin turned professional in 2005, and joined the

Futures Tour The Epson Tour, previously known as the LPGA Futures Tour, and known for sponsorship reasons between 2006 and 2010 as the Duramed Futures Tour and between 2012 and 2021 as the Symetra Tour, is the official developmental golf tour of the LPGA Tour ...

on January 23,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. She played in the

2007 U.S. Women's Open The 2007 U.S. Women's Open was the 62nd U.S. Women's Open, held June 28 to July 1 at the Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Cristie Kerr won the first of her two major titles, two strokes ahead of runners-up Loren ...

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. In 2011, with 11 top-10 finishes and 1 victory, she earned full playing privileges on the

for the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

season. Martin won the

, 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 Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

at the final hole on Sunday gave her the victory, one stroke ahead of runners-up

Shanshan Feng Shanshan Feng (, ; born 5 August 1989) is a Chinese former professional golfer who previously played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She was the first player from China to become a member of the LPGA Tour, which she joined in 2008. Feng had 10 vic ...

and

Suzann Pettersen Suzann Pettersen (born 7 April 1981) is a retired Norwegian professional golfer. She played mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour, and was also a member of the Ladies European Tour. Her career best world ranking was second and she held that position ...

. It was Martin's first eagle of the

season and the win moved her from 99 to 26 in the women's world rankings. Her previous best finish in a major was a tie for 29th at the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Personal

Born in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, Martin attended

Chandler School Chandler School is an independent, co-ed day school for students in kindergarten through grade eight located in Pasadena, California United States, founded in 1950. School enrollment is 450 students. The campus overlooks the Pasadena Rose Bowl a ...

. Her father, Allen Martin, was a defense attorney and taught her to play golf as a child, using

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and ...

'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. Her nickname "Mo" was given to her by her father, in reference to the '' U.S.S. Missouri'', a famous

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

that served the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

into the 1990s. She currently resides in

Naples, Florida Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...

Professional wins (4)

LPGA Tour wins (1)

Futures Tour wins (3)

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order before 2019.'' ^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013 CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (three times) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Mo American female golfers UCLA Bruins women's golfers LPGA Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships Golfers from California Sportspeople from Pasadena, California 1982 births Living people