I don't think I'd even heard Mo Martin's name before Thursday, and since then it seems that her first name is Short-hitting, as in Short-hitting Mo Martin, But she sent a thrill up my leg yesterday, and I'm guessing most of you missed it.
I arrived home form a lost weekend of golf, failing to qualify for the Governors Cup on Saturday and a thumping in a friendly four-ball yesterday, and caught the live finish of the Scottish Open. Nothing much happening there, as Justin Rose separated himself from the field and, as perhaps the best pure ball-striker on tour, he knows how to finish a round. But I had a feeling that the ladies might provide the better action (and was able to watch it in its entirety thanks to Tivo), though of course that feeling was based upon a final group of Inbee Park and Suzanne Pettersen, with noted closer Stacey Lewis officially lurking. How wrong I was, yet at the same time how right.
The funny thing to me is how the two links events were mirror images. In Aberdeen, the guys had typically windy conditions for the first three rounds, yet despite Elsie's dire weather forecast, had an unusually calm Sunday. Kudos to Justin Rose, who has now won the last two times he's teed it up, and so might be considered "on form" heading to Hoylake.
The ladies had the exact reverse conditions, calm on Thursday through Saturday, but strong winds on
Sunday. The first few holes at Birkdale are amongst the most difficult on the course, and it was a demolition derby from the starting gate. Sun Ju Anh, she of the Saturday penalty, was the most notable victim, starting her round with doubles on the first two holes. But everyone had squares on their scorecards, and on some of the cross-wind holes bogey was indeed a good score.
So, who is Mo Martin? Absolutely nobody, which is what makes this so wonderful. Per Doug Ferguson at AP:
It seemed like a fairy tale for Martin. Growing up with modest means, her father built a cage in their driveway for her to practice hitting balls. She walked on at UCLA. She needed financial help to keep her dream alive, including the six years it took just to reach the LPGA Tour. Martin said she would keep trying if she woke up happy, felt she was still contributing something to women's golf and could pay her bills.
And of her professional career, this from Alistair Tait:
Until now, the 31-year-old’s biggest career highlight was winning three times on the Symetra Tour. Her first victory on that tour played a part in helping her tame Royal Birkdale, coming at the 2007 El Paso Golf Classic. It wasn’t exactly links golf, but she notched her first pro victory in the strong winds that can blow through El Paso.
Martin had the 36-hole lead, but had struggled to a 77 on Saturday. Logic said that her pact with the devil had lapsed, but with her upbeat personality and great attitude about embracing the conditions, one was happy that she had a moment in the sun. But, as we all know from experience, everything regresses to the mean, and that mean can be awfully, you know, mean.
Naturally she would cede the stage to the show ponies on the leaderboard. We might see her holing out on No. 18, smiling and waving to the wonderful English crowd, but that would be all. But the day had this weird vibe, as if everyone had lost the plot. I figured Pettersen, as the best ball-striker of the leaders would rifle shots through the wind, but she was spraying it all over. Inbee Park is not a long hitter, but I didn't expect to see her as befuddled by short putts as she was. Stacey Lewis didn't have it, and you've rarely seen her struggle like this. China's Shanshan Feng looked the steadiest for much of the day, and I thought she would be our winner.
But Martin stayed in touch with the leaders. keeping her ball in play and not making anything worse than a bogey (and only three of those). She was an hour ahead of the final group, and one of those interesting scenarios presented itself. One of Birkdale's unique features is that for ladies, three of the last holes at Par-5's, which create opportunities to pick up ground. Martin came to these final holes at +1, with Park and Feng at -1. The commentators speculated that if she could find a birdie on one of the last two holes, even par might hold up. With Nos. 17 and 18 both downwind, I thought she'd need to birdie both of them, and when she didn't convert on No. 17 it seemed it would just be a high finish for Mo.
But she split the fairway on No. 18, and had a go at it.... and, well, she hit a pretty good shot, don't you think:
With one under posted, Pettersen, Park and Feng took aim. Pettersen had dug too deep a hole with a horrible double bogey on No. 13, so her birdie-birdie finish left her one short. And both Inbee and Shanshan, needing only a single birdie to force a playoff, played extremely loose golf on their final two holes.
It was a wonderful scene as her she warmed up for a potential playoff, with her caddie keeping track of the proceedings. I was glad she didn't have to play again, as it's so difficult when you finish that far ahead. She got the obligatory champagne bath, which I'm quite sure was her first ever. You had to love her question when caddie Kyle Morrison told her she had won, "Is this real life?" she said.
Some notes that put this in perspective:
- It's pretty wild to win by making eagle on the final hole, especially when it's your first eagle of the year;
- Martin earned $474,575 -- she had $599,760 in career money when she arrived in England.
As you no doubt can tell, I loved every minute of it.
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