TURNBERRY, Scotland – Perhaps Melissa “Mo” Martin’s grandfather captured one of those butterflies visiting the avocado orchards on his ranch in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada and whispered a wish to it.
Maybe that explains the enchantment in Martin’s winning the Ricoh Women’s British Open the way she did last year.
According to Indian legend in those Sierra foothills, if you capture a butterfly, “The Great Spirit” will grant any wish the butterfly carries to it in gratitude for the butterfly’s release.
It would explain the magic, because Martin’s victory at Royal Birkdale was as close to a fairy-tale ending as the star driven LPGA gets these days.