Green's work ethic and quiet confidence the glue for USF Women's Golf
By Joey Johnston
Tampa's winter weather was spectacular when women's golfer Melanie Green made her recruiting visit to USF. The coaches planned a big showcase. The itinerary: Lunch on the water, visiting the beach, checking out some other attractions.
But all Green wanted to do was hit balls on the practice range.
"It was probably the most unorthodox visit we've ever had,'' Bulls coach Erika Brennan said. "She used her student entertainment money and bought some golf balls. We couldn't watch her (hit) because that would constitute a tryout. So we sat inside and chatted with her parents.
"Even on that day, all she wanted to do was get better. It told us an awful lot about what we were going to get from her over the next four years. We already loved her, but that pretty much sealed the deal.''
Green, entering her sophomore spring season with USF's women's golf program, has done nothing but enhance that hard-working, focused reputation. She's a huge reason for Brennan's optimism as the Bulls opened the spring season two weeks ago at FAU Paradise Invitational at Boca Raton's Osprey Point Golf Club.
Green led the Bulls at that event, like she did during three out of the four fall events, to help USF set a new program record in the final round, collectively at 9-under-par.
Green had a 70.45 scoring average over four fall events, including a career-best round of 7-under-par 65. And that built off her highly successful freshman season, when she tied for fourth place at the American Athletic Conference Women's Golf Championship with a 4-over-par 220, giving her first-team All-AAC honors.
"Last year, I was just so excited to be part of college golf and in the fall (of 2021), that excitement grew even more,'' Green said. "Our team chemistry is outstanding and I'm very eager to see what we can accomplish.''
Green's optimism is boosted by the presence of senior Morgan Baxendale, a graduate transfer from Vanderbilt University and a Windermere native who was a second-team All-SEC performer, and freshman Leonor Medeiros, who played on Portugal's national team.
"I think our program can achieve at an incredibly high level and that has been our ongoing goal,'' Brennan said. "We're making incremental moves to achieve those things.
"We're in the top half of our league and this spring will really test us with stronger fields and better competition. It's about connecting the dots and taking our program over the edge. MG (Green) is a huge part of that process.''
On the surface, Green seems like a typically low-key college sophomore. She's polite and friendly. She's sorting out her future after switching her major from management to health science. She gets around campus on a longboard. She's teaching herself to play the guitar.
But on the golf course?
"Her focus is becoming the best golfer she can be, but make no mistake, she wants to rewrite that (USF) record book and I'd be shocked if she doesn't do that,'' Brennan said. "Mentally, she's able to access places that few athletes are able to access. It's like flipping a switch. When the lights come on, she's going to be there.
"In other sports, you talk about having that physical presence, that first athlete off the bus to grab the other team's attention. We don't have that analogy because we're an objective game, playing against the golf course. But there is a presence about MG. If you're around her on tournament day, you're going to get sucked into that vortex. She'll just smile, but I think she likes that (being the player watched by everyone else).''
Green is from Medina, N.Y., a town of about 6,000 in the state's western region, between Buffalo and Rochester, about two hours from Toronto. She's from a graduating class of 100 kids. The girls golf team at Medina High School? She was it.
They arranged for her to compete as an individual and she twice won the New York state championship before COVID-19 canceled her senior season and any hopes of a three-peat. By then, though, she was locked into USF and a new, sunny world, where she could play golf year-round.
"We live in paradise … and I love it!'' Green said.
She's the daughter of a prison correctional officer and a mail carrier, relishing a blue-collar upbringing that was similar to the experience of Brennan, the daughter of a Lake Wales fire fighter.
"My father is a really good player, a single-digit (handicap), but I mostly practiced and played by myself,'' Green said. "There just weren't a lot of (young) players, unless I wanted to play with a bunch of 70-year-olds. I loved the game. I love it more every day.''
Of course, there are frustrations. Green said she has advanced her mental game tremendously while at USF, thanks to the work of Lee Dorpfeld, the program's mental performance advisor.
"I'm much more in tune with how I think and who I am,'' Green said. "If I had a big shot or I'm really nervous, I just say, 'This shot will not define me 10 minutes from now,' and that helps. In all areas since coming to USF, I'm more equipped to play my best.''
Brennan has obviously always loved Green's game — "the scores just leaped off the page and went we saw her, after one tee shot, we knew'' — but she especially loves the leadership and camaraderie that naturally flows from her presence.
"She was quietly confident even as a freshman and she encourages a mindset that's like, 'Let's go together … we can do this together,' '' Brennan said. "In an individual sport, that's very refreshing. It has become the cement of our team and that's definitely where MG shines.''
"The goal is to be happy, right?'' Green said. "Golf makes me happy. This team makes me happy. We all have talent, but we have to work hard for whatever we get and that's what we intend to do.''
That is Green's goal-oriented life and mission. Even while living in paradise, her grind continues.
