As you can read in Ron Sirak’s article about Mo Martin’s win in the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Royal Birkdale it was totally unexpected and it made lots of people happy.

Mo brandishes a telegenic smile…..

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The fact that she did it with a near Gene Sarazen on the final hole in a howling British Isle breeze makes it all the more intriguing. As the 99th player in the World Rankings I don’t think there were even odds for her at the British betting establishments. This outcome was the stuff of bedtime fairy tales.

Almost a shot heard round the world…at least the ladies golf world

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Like Ben Curtis winning the Open Championship at Royal St. Georges in 2003, the best player the last day won the hardware and it does not matter whether it seemed to happen under the radar or not. Mo’s even par 72 on Sunday was tie for the best round on a very difficult day when the more familiar names were hemorrhaging strokes to par from the opening hole. Major winners like Feng and Pettersen shot 75, Park shot 77, and Lewis shot 78-none of them could mount an assault on the one-under 287 score Mo posted an hour earlier.

Some kind of a pleasant surprise….

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As the article says Mo is a breath of fresh air on the ladies tour and someone the players and the fans find it easy to root for.  Based on the celebration of her co-workers and the comments of the name pursuers involved it is obvious that this was a magical Cinderella story that the golf world will embrace with open arms.

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(Click to read Ron Sirak’s joyous article about Mo Martin’s British Open Win)

(A related piece by Jamie Diaz on Mo Martin’s engaging graciousness )

Ron Sirak and Jamie Diaz

Golf World

July, 2014