ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) — ANNIKA Media Day brought golf to Tropicana Field Thursday as former USF standout Melanie Green helped preview The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican ahead of its November return.

Green, the 2025 Epson Tour Player of the Year and Gaëlle Truet Rookie of the Year, spent the day meeting with media, connecting with fans and throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before the Tampa Bay Rays game.

Green Reflects on USF Roots

Florida National News’ Todd Grasley asked Green what it means to now compete in an LPGA event essentially in her own backyard after spending four years at USF and making Florida home.

“Being a Florida resident now, I’m like, okay, this is awesome,” Green said. “So, you know, it’s exciting.”

The setting carries a different meaning for Green now. She has gone from competing collegiately at USF to the Epson Tour, where her breakout 2025 season earned her Player of the Year honors and a tour card.

Photo: Nisey Spruill / Florida National News / FNN Sports

From Epson Tour to the LPGA

Grasley asked Green about that climb — from USF to Epson Tour Player of the Year and now competing against some of the best players in the world while realizing a childhood dream.

Green reflected on the role her faith and support system played in that journey, saying much of what has happened was bigger than anything she could have created on her own.

When asked if there was an “aha” moment when being an LPGA player finally felt real, Green admitted the transition still requires reminders.

“I feel like I have to continually just keep reminding myself,”

She later put the adjustment into perspective.

“Once you get past the ‘whoa’ of the LPGA, then you can kind of feel like … your feet just aren’t getting wet, you’re actually in the water.”

Attendees gather during ANNIKA Media Day at Tropicana Field as preparations continue for The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican this November. Photo: Nisey Spruill / Florida National News / FNN Sports

USF Foundation Still Matters

Green also reflected on how her time at USF helped prepare her for life beyond college golf.

“I would say my coaches were phenomenal for me,” Green said.

Rather than focusing solely on the mechanics of her swing, Green said her coaches helped her navigate the larger demands surrounding competition, including tournament preparation and time management.

Green Looks Ahead to The ANNIKA

The conversation also turned to Annika Sörenstam, whose career Green followed before getting the opportunity to compete professionally in the tournament bearing her name.

Grasley asked what Sörenstam has meant to Green as a player she looked up to and what it means to now participate in her event as a professional.

“She holds just about, seems like, every record.”

Green describes Sörenstam as someone players continue to look up to and aspire toward.

The ANNIKA Returns in November

The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican returns to Pelican Golf Club in Belleair Nov. 11-15, with tournament play beginning Nov. 12.

Green is among the early commitments for the 2026 field. For Green, the week will bring another milestone in a season already filled with firsts — this time competing near the place where a major part of her golf journey began.

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Nisey Spruill is a reporter and photojournalist for Florida National News (FNN), covering major news, sports and special events across Florida and nationwide. Contact sports@FloridaNationalNews.com

TAMPA, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – It is Opening Day weekend across Major League Baseball. For the defending AL East Champion Tampa Bay Rays, that means a home series against the division opponent Baltimore on Friday.

24-year-old Shane McClanah will get the start for the Rays who went 100-62 during the 2021 season, the first time the team reached 100 wins in franchise history. McClanahan played his college ball at nearby USF, and is no stranger to getting the ball in big games. He went 10-6 on the year with a 3.43 ERA and has six postseason appearances including the World Series in 2020.

Star pitcher Tyler Glasnow is likely out for the season while fellow pitchers Michael Wacha and Collin McHugh along with Nelson Cruz left the team in free agency. Fan Favorites Joey Wendle and Austin Meadows were traded to the Marlins and Padres respectively.

So where does that put the season outlook for Tampa Bay? Most baseball outlets have the Rays in the middle of the AL East standings with the Blue Jays and Yankees as the favorites, both having major offseason additions to bolster their lineups. Despite being one of the best teams in baseball the last several years, the Rays have a tough time getting respect.

Wander Franco signed a massive 11-year, $183 million deal that will keep him with the club through 2033 and an option for an additional year. Having a superstar in Franco coupled with star Randy Arozena, Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe, and a team that can hit and play defense with the best teams in baseball is a positive sign.

The question for the Rays will be their starting pitching depth. Behind McClanahan is new addition Corey Kluber and youngsters Drew Rasmussen, Luis Patino, and Ryan Yarbrough. Behind them is one of a very reliable bullpen with set-up man Pete Fairbanks and closer Andrew Kittredge.

Fans have numerous opportunities to see an exciting brand of Rays baseball in April alone with home series against the Orioles, Athletics, Red Sox, Mariners, and Twins.

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Todd Grasley is a sports reporter for Florida National News Tampa. | sports@floridanationalnews.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Players have voted to accept Major League Baseball’s latest offer for a new labor deal, paving the way to end a 99-day lockout and salvage a 162-game regular season that will begin April 7.

The union’s executive board approved the agreement in a 26-12 vote Thursday, pending ratification by all players, a person familiar with the balloting said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement was authorized.

MLB sent the players an offer Thursday and gave them until 3 p.m. to accept in order to play a full season. The union announced the player vote around 3:25 p.m. Owners planned to hold a ratification vote later in the day.

The agreement will allow training camps to open this week in Florida and Arizona, more than three weeks after they were scheduled to on Feb. 16. Fans can start making plans to be at Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and Camden Yards next month. Opening day is being planned a little more than a week behind the original date on March 31.

The deal will also set off a rapid-fire round of free agency. Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman and Kris Bryant are among 138 big leaguers still without a team, including some who might benefit from the adoption of a universal designated hitter.

The sport’s new collective bargaining agreement will also expand the playoffs to 12 teams and introduce incentives to limit so-called “tanking.” The minimum salary will rise from $570,500 to about $700,000 and the luxury tax threshold will increase from $210 million to around $230 million this year, a slight loosening for the biggest spenders such as the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers and Red Sox. A new bonus pool was established for players not yet eligible for arbitration, a way to boost salaries for young stars.

Commissioner Rob Manfred had set a Tuesday deadline for a deal that would preserve a 162-game schedule along with full pay and service time required for players to reach free agency. Talks spilled past the deadline and Manfred announced more cancellations Wednesday, increasing the total to 184 of the 2,230 games.

After yet another snag, this time over management’s desire for an international amateur draft, the deal came together Thursday afternoon and capped nearly a year of talks that saw pitchers Max Scherzer and Andrew Miller take prominent roles as union spokesmen.

Players had fumed for years about the deal that expired Dec. 1, which saw payrolls decline for 4% in 2021 compared to the last full season, back to their 2015 level. The union had an ambitious negotiating stance in talks that began last spring, asking for free-agency rights to increase with an age-based backstop and for an expansion of salary arbitration to its level from 1974-86.

In the late stages, the level and rates of the luxury tax, designed as a break on spending, became the key to a deal. Players think that too low a threshold and too high a rate acts tantamount to a salary cap, which the union fought off with a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95.

The agreement came after three days of shuttle negotiations between the MLB offices in midtown Manhattan and the players’ association headquarters, three blocks away.

Despite hundreds of hours of threats and counter-threats, the sides are set to avoid regular-season games being canceled by labor conflict for the first time since the 1994-95 strike. Games originally announced as canceled by Manfred were changed to postponed, and MLB will modify the original schedule.

The deal came at a cost, though, with years of public rancor again casting both owners and players as money obsessed. Spring training in Arizona and Florida was disrupted for the third straight year following two exhibition seasons altered by the coronavirus pandemic. Exhibition games had been scheduled to start Feb. 26.

Players will have about 28 days of training rather than the usual 42 for pitchers and catchers.

In some ways, the negotiations were similar to those in 1990, when a lockout started Feb. 15 and ended with a four-year deal announced 1:18 a.m. on March 19.