Jaye Marie Green – Syndication Server

With golf in limbo after a brutal bike accident, Jaye Marie Green thought: “I’m no one now”

After a brutal bike accident, Jaye Marie Green is still feeling the pain while producing on the course.

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BELLEAIR, Fla. – Early on in the COVID-19 lockdown, Jaye Marie Green and her boyfriend bought a couple of electric bikes. Like a regular bike, Green says, but with a little throttle (up to 30 mph). The couple were on their way to dinner on May 28 in Jupiter, Florida, when Green hit a curb and flew off the bike, narrowly missing a car.

Green slammed her shoulder, face and knees on the right side, suffering a concussion and fracturing her elbow. It was a 10-week recovery filled with worry because she couldn’t straighten her right elbow past a 90-degree angle.

Green said she still suffers from memory loss, which she believes is post-concussion syndrome. (courtesy Jaye Marie Green)

To say that Green is full of joy these days to be back at her job is an understatement. She’s positively glowing. Her dad calls her a walking miracle.

“I’m just happy to be alive and I feel really blessed,” she said. “There were definitely angels around me 100 percent.”

Green, 26, missed the first four events back after the LPGA’s summer restart, including the AIG Women’s British Open. Her 2-under 68 at the Pelican Women’s Championship marks her best opening round in more than a year.

There are times, Green said, when her brain hurts and she can’t remember things. Panic usually sets in.

“Sometimes I’m just standing there and I’m like, ‘I don’t even know what’s going on,” said Green. “I’ve always felt that way before, kind of, but now I’m like, ‘Man, I can’t be losing all these brain cells all the time.’ ”

Green said the “road rash” was extremely painful.

During the long forced break, when everything she’d known could suddenly disappear, Green was forced to grapple with a tough question: Who was she without golf?

The immediate answer was perhaps more concerning than anything that ailed her body.

“I was like, I’m no one now,” she said.

Depression began to set in. When she was able to start practicing again, Green came back hitting the ball better than ever, absolutely convinced that she was going to record her first LPGA victory.

“All I had on my brain was win, win, win,” said Green, “and I couldn’t even function, because … I’m not anywhere near the lead. This is terrible. What am I even doing?”

A few months ago, Green’s life took another major shift when she got plugged into her local church, Christ Fellowship in Palm Beach Gardens. All of a sudden, her identity changed. Her outlook on where the game ranks in her life changed, too. It’s no longer No. 1. Not even second.

“Now I’m just looking at it like, of course you care, and if you don’t play well it’s going to hurt,” said Green, “but it shouldn’t devastate and you make you feel like a terrible person, and that’s what golf was doing to me.

“I’m like, I can’t live this way. Either you quit golf, or you quit this mental thing with making golf number one in your life.”

Golf has moved down to its rightful place and the bike, well, it’s out of commission.

But her heart has never felt stronger.

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Jaye Marie Green hopes to hoist first LPGA trophy at new hometown event

Jaye Marie Green grew up about 15 minutes from Boca Rio Golf Club, home of the inaugural Gainbridge LPGA. She put 60 tickets at will call.

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Jaye Marie Green grew up about 15 minutes from Boca Rio Golf Club in a neighborhood called Hidden Lake. There were 15 to 20 kids on her childhood street, and at least 10 of them plan to come watch her compete in the inaugural Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Raton. She put 60 tickets at will call.

Green’s father, Donnie, has taught at nearby Broken Sound Golf Club for 25 years. He told people to reach out if they needed tickets.

“That was the wrong thing to do,” he said, smiling. “Too many people have my number.”

Jaye Marie now lives about 45 minutes away in Jupiter but will be staying at her parents’ house this week. The door frame of her bedroom closet is still lined with USGA medals. Her runner-up medal from the 2012 U.S. Women’s Amateur, when Green fell in the final match to Lydia Ko, is among them.

“I would love to win in my hometown,” she said. “That’s my No. 1 goal.”

Jaye Marie Green waves to the gallery during the final round of the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston. (Photo by John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports)

Green, who has yet to win on the LPGA, plays out of Trump Jupiter when not on the road. She came out to Boca Rio a couple of weeks ago but prior to that hadn’t seen the course in four years. It came back to her instantly.

“It’s always windy like this in south Florida,” said Green. “I think that’s going to be the main thing. This course is really protected by trees, so when you’re standing on the tee box you can’t feel the wind. And it swirls a lot. So it’s really committing to your shots and where the wind is going.”

The forecast for Wednesday’s pro-am round calls for gusts of 30 to 35 mph and feel-like temperatures near freezing.

It’s expected to get warmer as the week goes on.

The 1953 Boca Raton Weather Vane, won Beverly Hanson, marked the first LPGA’s stop in this city. There was another run at Stonebridge Golf and Country Club from 1986 to ’89.

Morgan Pressel and her sister Madison are two more local players who create plenty of buzz this week. Morgan grew up at St. Andrews Country Club and still lives there now with husband Andy Bush. Madison, a Symetra Tour player, is competing on a sponsor exemption.

Green, who went to middle school and high school down the road at Spanish River Christian, hit several shots from a greenside bunker on the 18^thwith her father nearby. She figures there will be a back-right hole location at some point this week and assumes she’ll take an aggressive line.

“I like to picture myself holding the trophy and what that would feel like,” said Green. “But when I’m playing, I do not let myself think that because then you’re not in the moment. You’re thinking way too far ahead. That’s a lesson I learned at the U.S. Open.”

Green contended over the weekend in the U.S. Women’s Open at Club of Charleston and tied for fifth.

Older brother, Matt, frequently tells her to soak up those moments and not rush to the finish. Matt typically caddies for Green but is starting his season a little bit later.

“He’s not fired,” said Green, who has already fielded the question quite a few times.

There will be times this week when Green will have to put on blinders to keep focused. But mostly, it’s going to be a blast to look out and see so many who have watched her grow up.

There’s no place like home.

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For 17 players at CME, $1.5 million payday would be a colossal breakthrough

There are 17 players looking to win a maiden LPGA title at the CME Group Tour Championship and collect the biggest paycheck in tour history.

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NAPLES, Fla. – Megan Khang didn’t exactly know how tight money was growing up, but the fact that her family would drive 14 hours to a tournament while her friends crisscrossed the country by plane gave her an idea. These days Khang finds joy in helping her parents, even with something small like paying their heating bill. She has long said that her goal in life is to build her mother’s dream house.

The Khangs might break ground if the 22-year-old wins this week’s $1.5 million prize at the CME Group Tour Championship. She’s one of 17 players in the field looking to win her first LPGA title and collect the biggest paycheck in tour history.

“Every golfer knows we wouldn’t be where we are without our parents’ sacrifices,” said Khang, who opened with a 2-under 70 at Tiburon Golf Club, five strokes back of leader Sei Young Kim.

In the past, only a handful of players at the top of the Race to the CME Globe had a chance to win the $1 million bonus. This year tournament officials combined bonus money with the first-place prize and gave anyone in the 60-player field the chance at a $1.5 million payday.

CME Group Tour Championship: Tee times | Photos

Jaye Marie Green can picture her father riding around in a Mercedes convertible, his mile-high bleach blond hair moving ever-so-slightly in the wind. Green has heard her dad talk about his dream car since she was a little girl. If the stars happened to align in Naples, Florida, Green might have headed straight to a dealership back home in Boca Raton. After a first-round 76, however, Green may have to wait until 2020 to hoist her first LPGA trophy.

Jaye Marie Green with her father/caddie Donnie at Stage 1 of LPGA Qualifying School in 2016.

Nanna Koerstz Madsen, like many players on tour, doesn’t have a sponsor on her bag. She has a new hat sponsor this season in JTB, a Japanese travel company. Her other main backer, TestHuset, has been with her since she turned professional.

Koerstz Madsen pooled money together back home in Denmark after she turned professional to get started on the Ladies European Tour.

“It was actually easier the first year than it is now,” she said of landing sponsors.

Which is precisely why making money inside the ropes is so crucial for many on the LPGA. For so many of the players looking to win on the LPGA for the first time, this is a life-changing amount of cash.

“I feel like it’s more like a major,” said Koerstz Madsen, who opened with a 68. The U.S. Women’s Open upped its winner’s check to $1 million this season.

Many golf fans first became acquainted with Brittany Altomare earlier this year at the Solheim Cup, where even Nancy Lopez was dazzled by Altomare’s touch on the greens. Altomare, who turned 29 years old on Nov. 19, won’t soon forget 2019. She hasn’t missed a cut this season and ranks a career-best of 20^th on the money list. She got engaged to longtime boyfriend Steven Stanislawzyk in the middle The Lawn at Virginia, her alma mater. The Shrewsbury, Massachusetts natives will wed next October in Italy.

The ultimate bow on Altomare’s season would be to claim her first LPGA title at Tiburon. She carded a 69 in the first round.

“I think I’ve always been the type of person that likes to have security,” said Altomare. “Obviously playing professional golf, there really is no sense of security.”

A $1.5 million check would go a long way toward changing that.

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