She's spent nearly every day in that span with her significant other, tirelessly toiling day-in and day-out. As she's come to learn, it takes a lot of work to be that close to a golf course.

“Dating … I'm like married to it,” said Martinez, the top female golfer for the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

Her work ethic and unbridled passion for golf has helped the 19-year-old freshman quickly establish herself as the team's best hope to finish near the top of the leaderboard at the National Tournament in May.

Her career is already off to a nice start. In her collegiate debut, Martinez won the weather-shortened Sen. Eddie Lucio Intercolle-giate Golf Tournament by shooting an 84 on a drizzly, miserable day at South Padre Island Golf Course. UTB-TSC's top men's fin-isher shot an 83.

Her game has come a long way since her father, Ricardo, first made her start hacking it around with a set of “garage sale” clubs back in sixth grade. Her first tournament score was a 54 in only seven holes.

But, after countless hours at driving ranges and entire days spent hitting balls at golf camps, Martinez was able to grow into the star player at Edinburg Economedes High School. Her dad was there for each putt and chip, every bogey and birdie.

Nowadays, Martinez has the rest of field wanting to shed tears. She demands perfection on every shot and expects to win every time she tees it up.

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