American Mo Martin wins Women’s British Open
By Mike Marteny
American Mo Martin won her first professional golf tournament in dramatic fashion. For her second shot on the par-5 18th hole at Royal Barkdale, she hit a 3-wood that hit the pin. This gave her a six foot putt for eagle that she made to finish at an even par 72.
Then came the agony. She had to wait over an hour for everyone else to finish.
At the end of the day, Martin’s 72 was the only par or better of the day, and the 31 year old California native was finally a major champion.
It was also her first professional win after winning three times on the futures tour.
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Her best previous finish at an LPGA major championship was a tie for 29th at this year’s Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Inbee Park and Shanshan Feng both had a chance to force a playoff if they could birdie the 17th or 18th holes, both par 5’s, but neither could pull it off on the windy afternoon.
Martin shot 69-69-77-72 to finish at one under par for the tournament. She was the only person to finish under par for the event.
However, Martin slipped back into a tie for seventh after a +5 yesterday.
Inbee Park came into the day at -4 and was sitting atop the leaderboard. She suffered six bogeys in her final round 77, including one on the 18th hole that knocked her back into fourth place at +1 overall. She also had a double bogey on the par-4 10th that made the rest of the day an uphill climb for the South Korean.
Martin’s eagle on 18 helped erase her three bogeys on the round, but none of them came after the 13th hole.
She took home a check for $277,887.00 for her efforts.