Maggie (Loney) Green didn’t even know how to mark her ball on the green when she started playing golf as a freshman at River Falls High School in 1998. She is now the senior professional golfer at Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., And will be inducted into the UW-Eau Claire Athletic Hall of Fame on October 15th.
Green is one of five women and six individuals to be inducted into the Blugold Hall of Fame in a year that the UW-Eau Claire sports program celebrates the 50th anniversary of women’s athletics.
The new class includes Green, gymnast Lynn (Morris) Nordin, athlete Jennifer (Stafslien) Reimer, volleyball basketball court standout Brooke (Wozniak) Schmidt, soccer athlete Bob Schmidt and long-time athletics administrative assistant Nancy Hendricks.
The class will be introduced during Homecoming Weekend with a banquet on Friday October 15 and an introduction to the soccer game against UW-River Falls on Saturday October 16. The group will also take part in the Homecoming Parade on Saturday morning.
Green was the Big Rivers Conference Player of the Year as a senior at River Falls High School in 2002. From 2003 to 2006 she received All-WIAC awards from UW-Eau Claire for four consecutive years and was WIAC Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005. She was a three-time All-American with the Blugolds and qualified for the US Women’s Amateur Championships in 2005.
And she said it all started with some bad swings as a 14-year-old with some friends on the River Falls Golf Club driving range.
“High school golf coach Paul Meyer coincidentally persuaded me to try myself for the girls’ golf team because he saw a natural talent in me,” she recalls. “At that point, I had never played a hole of golf in my life. He had a lot to teach me and I had to learn a lot, starting with what it means to ‘mark my ball’ on the green. “
In her sophomore year, she and future Wisconsin badger Jackie Obermueller helped the Wildcats qualify for the WIAA Girls State Golf Tournament for the first time in school history. The Wildcats ranked fourth in their junior season and was named BRC Player of the Year as a senior.
At UW-Eau Claire, Green finished fourth and the Blugolds finished third at the 2005 NCAA Division III Championships. She finished in the top 20 in all four of her NCAA championships and the Blugolds never finished sixth as a team. She received national awards in each of her four seasons. She was WGCA Freshman of the Year 2003, WIAC Player of the Year 2004 and 2005, Honorable Mention All-American Second Year, and All-American First Team Junior and Senior.
Green was named to the WIAC’s all-centennial golf team in 2013 and was also named Sportswoman of the Year 2005 by Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, the same year she qualified for the US Women’s Amateur Championship.
After completing her bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in marketing and mass communication advertising, Green continued her career in golf. She is a certified PGA of America-Class A PGA Professional and has worked at Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale since 2008, where she became Head Golf Professional and Retail Manager of the Chiricahua Golf Course in Desert Mountain in 2014, including the British Open 2011 and the US Open 2012 in the merchandise tents.
Green and her husband Josh, Account Manager for Waste Management, have three children – Kelly, 5 years old; Zoey, 3 years; and Jaxon, 1 year.
Green said there was a long list of people she was grateful for, starting with her family – parents Lori and Greg, and siblings Luke, Molly and Morgan.
“My parents never missed any of our sporting events, and that goes for all four children,” she said. “They always pushed us to work hard, to do our best, and most of all, they believed in us all. They taught us that hard work pays off, but winning wasn’t everything. They wanted us to be happy and have fun doing it. “
In addition to Meyer and Rawdon, Green said that another great mentor was Sandy Johnston, who she believed devoted a lot of time to the golf program for high school girls and is still an amazing and inspiring female role model for the game of golf.
Lastly, Green said River Falls was the best city to grow up with.
“The River Falls Golf Club has always been so supportive,” she said. “I worked there after high school and throughout my college career and they have always been very supportive of the junior golf program and high school teams.”