Bulls will make their first team appearance since 2012
TAMPA, FLA., April 26, 2023 – Head coach Erika Brennan’s USF women’s golf team has smashed program records this season and on Wednesday added another achievement to a strong 2022-23 season by earning the program’s first NCAA Regional bid since 2012.
The NCAA assigned the Bulls to the No. 10 seed in the Palm Beach Gardens Regional being played at PGA National Resort Palm Beach May 8-10.
“It was the ultimate validation for the way we try to do things, which is not the easy way,” said head coach Erika Brennan. “You can do it quicker if you take shortcuts. When Coach Stevens and I got here we were both committed to the fact that we were going to do it in a way that was sustainable. Every year that we have been building this has been building to this moment, and this was the team that – the amount of adversity, the amount of grief, the amount of really heavy life stuff that these girls have shared experiences over is really what allowed for them to have this mountain top moment.”
The Bulls will make their 15th NCAA Regional appearance overall for the women’s program, logging their first since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2013. USF has advanced to the championship round four times in its history, finishing in the Top 10 all four times, with a school-best fourth-place finish in 1991. This year, the NCAA increased the number of programs advancing to the NCAA Championship from the regionals to 30 from 24.
The Bulls will take a field that features No. 1 seed LSU (ranked No. 3 in Golfstat and a winner of four events on the year), No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Northwestern, No. 4 UCF, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Michigan State, No. 7 California, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 9 Alabama, No. 10 USF, No. 11 Penn and No. 12 Quinnipiac.
The Bulls enter the NCAA Regional ranked No. 24 in scoring average at 73.38 and No. 57 overall according to Golfstat. This season the Bulls have set school records for team par or better rounds (15), team season birdies (397), individual par or better rounds (61), low round (273, at Evie Odom Invitational), low round vs. par (-11, at FAU Paradise Invitational) and low 54-hole total (852, at Trinity Forest Invitational). The Bulls are on pace to set the program season records for scoring average (currently at 289.88 for the 2022-23 season), par 3 scoring (3.1066), par 4 scoring (4.1285), par 5 scoring (4.9695),
The Bulls are led by junior Melanie Green (Medina, N.Y.), who is ranked No. 12 in the country in scoring average (70.83) and is the 39th-ranked player in the country overall according to Golfstat. Green earned her third American Athletic All-Conference honor on Wednesday after a fourth-place finish in the AAC Championship and leading the Bulls with eight top-10 finishes and 10 top-25 finishes.
Green set Bulls’ records for rounds of par or better in a season (20) and extended her USF career rounds of par or better record to 44. Additionally, Green is on pace to eclipse the USF season records she set last year for scoring average (70.83), national scoring rating (11) and par 4 scoring (3.9425) and surpass USF season marks for finish percentage (90.9%) and par 5 scoring (4.7899).
Green is making her second-consecutive NCAA appearance after qualifying for the NCAA Regional as an individual in 2022 and finishing tied for 27th.
Graduate student Lauren Heinlein (Ocala) recorded the Bulls’ second-best scoring average of 73.09 and posted three Top 10 finishes. Heinlein was second on the team with 15 rounds of par or better and six rounds in the 60’s.
Sophomore Juliana Camargo (Bogata, Columbia) had her best season as a Bull, with a scoring average of 73.66. Camargo posted three Top 10 finishes.
Junior Alizee Vidal (Le Gosier, France) carded 13 rounds of par or better and three rounds in the 60’s on the season. Vidal also posted two Top 10 finishes.
Sophomore Leonor Medeiros (Palmela, Portugal) recorded her best season as a Bull with a scoring average of 74.03. Medeiros posted her first Top 10 finish in leading the Bulls to a fourth-place finish at the Chattanooga Classic
About USF Women’s Golf
The Bulls are in their sixth season under head coach Erika Brennan in 2022-23. USF is among the fastest-rising programs in the country, as they climbed 75 spots in the national Golfstat rankings following Brennan’s first season in 2018-19 and have captured three tournament titles under Brennan, while setting numerous program records under her leadership. Junior standout Melanie Green has been an all-conference performer in each of her first three seasons, reached the 2022 NCAA Regionals as an individual and competed in both the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Women’s Amateur championships.
Follow @USFWGolf on Twitter for the latest information concerning the program.
– #GoBulls –
