| Nancy Lopez | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Nancy Marie Lopez | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1957-01-06)January 6, 1957 (age 68) Torrance, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sporting nationality |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence | The Villages, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Ed Russell (m. 2017) Ray Knight (1982–2009) Tim Melton (1979–1982) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | Ashley, Erinn, Torri | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| College | University of Tulsa (two years) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turned professional | 1977 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current tour | LPGA Tour | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional wins | 51 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| LPGA Tour | 48 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| LPGA of Japan Tour | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best results in LPGA major championships (wins: 3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chevron Championship | T3:1995 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Women's PGA C'ship | Won:1978,1985,1989 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Women's Open | 2nd/T2:1975,1977,1989,1997 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| du Maurier Classic | 2nd/T2: 1979, 1981, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Women's British Open | DNP | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nancy Marie Lopez[1] (born January 6, 1957)[2] is an American formerprofessional golfer. She became a member of theLPGA Tour in1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events, including threemajor championships.
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Lopez won theNew Mexico Women's Amateur at age 12 in 1969, and theU.S. Girls' Junior in 1972 and 1974, at ages 15 and 17, respectively. Shortly after graduation fromGoddard High School inRoswell, she played in theU.S. Women's Open as an amateur, first in 1974 and again in1975 where she tied for second.
As a collegiate freshman in 1976, Lopez was namedAll-American and Female Athlete of the Year for her play at theUniversity of Tulsa. That year she won theAssociation of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) nationalintercollegiate golf championship and was a member of the U.S.Curtis Cup and World Amateur teams. Lopez left college after her sophomore year and turned pro in1977, and again was the runner-up at theU.S. Women's Open.[3]
During her first full season on theLPGA Tour in1978, Lopez won nine tournaments, including five consecutive. She appeared on the cover ofSports Illustrated in July,[4] won theVare Trophy for lowest scoring average,LPGA Rookie of the Year,LPGA Player of the Year and was named theAssociated Press Female Athlete of the Year. She won another eight times in1979, and won multiple times in each year from1980 to1984, although she played only half-seasons in1983 and 1984 due to the birth of her first child.[3]
Playing full-time again in1985, Lopez posted five wins, five seconds, five thirds, won the money title, the scoring title, the Player of the Year Award, and was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for a second time. She entered only four events in1986, when her second daughter was born, but came back with multiple wins in 1987–89 - three times each in1988 and1989 - and once again won Player of the Year honors in 1988. Lopez' schedule was curtailed again in the early 1990s when her third daughter was born. In1992 she won twice. Lopez continued to play short schedules - from 11 to 18 tournaments - through2002, then in2003 cut back to just a half dozen or fewer events a year.[3]
Lopez was considered to be one of the greats of women's golf, and she was the game's best player from the late 1970s to late 1980s. She won threemajors, and all were at theLPGA Championship, at the same course, in1978,1985, and1989. Lopez never won theU.S. Women's Open, but finished second four times, the last in1997 when she became the first in the event's history to score under 70 for all four rounds, yet lost toAlison Nicholas.[3] She won theColgate-Dinah Shore in1981, two years before it became a major, and was a runner-up three times at thedu Maurier Classic inCanada.
Lopez was inducted into theWorld Golf Hall of Fame in 1987. She was a member of the United StatesSolheim Cup team in1990 and was captain of the team in2005. Lopez retired from regular tournament play in 2002 and attempted a return in 2007 and 2008. In her return season, she played six tournaments, missed the cut in each, and only broke 80 in three of the 12 rounds.[3] In 2008, she played in three events, with a low score of 76, never making the cut. She was inducted into theGeorgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.[5]
Lopez is the only woman to win LPGA Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year, and the Vare Trophy in the same season (1978). Her company, Nancy Lopez Golf, makes a full line of women's clubs and accessories. She also does occasional television commentary.
Lopez was married toHouston sportscaster Tim Melton from 1979 to 1982.[6][7] Shortly after her divorce, she marriedMajor LeagueAll-Star baseball playerRay Knight, then a member of theHouston Astros, in October 1982 inPelham, Georgia.[8] They were married for 27 years, divorcing in 2009, and have three daughters. While married, Lopez and Knight lived in Georgia in his hometown ofAlbany. Since 1986, she has hosted the Nancy Lopez Hospice Golf Classic at theDoublegate Country Club to raise money for Albany Community Hospice, returning yearly even after her divorce from Knight in 2009.[9] She currently resides inThe Villages, Florida[10] where she hosts an annual golf tournament to benefit the charity AIM (Adventures in Movement), an organization that helps mentally challenged, visually impaired, hearing impaired, physically handicapped and other children and adults with special needs. She has hosted the tournament since 1981 and also serves as a national ambassador with AIM.[11] In 2017, Lopez married for a third time to Ed Russell.
this list may be incomplete
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Note: Lopez won the Colgate-Dinah Shore (now known as theKraft Nabisco Championship) before it became a major championship.
LPGA Tour playoff record (8–7)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1978 | Kathryn Crosby/Honda Civic Classic |  Sally Little | Lost to par on first extra hole |
| 2 | 1978 | Coca-Cola Classic |  JoAnne Carner | Won with par on first extra hole |
| 3 | 1978 | Mizuno-Japan Classic |  Michiko Okada Ai-Yu Tu | Okada won with birdie on fifth extra hole Tu eliminated by birdie on second hole |
| 4 | 1979 | Women's Kemper Open | Donna CaponiJoAnne CarnerChako Higuchi Jan Stephenson | Carner won with par on second extra hole Caponi, Lopez, and Stephenson eliminated by par on first hole |
| 5 | 1979 | Coca-Cola Classic | Bonnie BryantHollis StacyJo Ann WashamMickey Wright | Won with birdie on second extra hole Bryant, Stacy, and Washam eliminated by birdie on first hole |
| 6 | 1980 | Mary Kay Classic | Jerilyn Britz | Lost to birdie on second extra hole |
| 7 | 1985 | Portland Ping Championship | Lori Garbacz | Won with birdie on third extra hole |
| 8 | 1988 | AI Star/Centinela Hospital Classic |  Marta Figueras-Dotti | Won with par on second extra hole |
| 9 | 1988 | Crestar Classic | Juli InksterRosie JonesBetsy King | Inkster won with eagle on first extra hole |
| 10 | 1988 | Rochester International | Mei-Chi ChengPatty Sheehan | Cheng won with birdie on second extra hole Sheehan eliminated by par on first hole |
| 11 | 1990 | MBS LPGA Classic | Cathy Gerring | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 12 | 1992 | Rail Charity Classic |  Laura Davies | Won with par on first extra hole |
| 13 | 1992 | Ping-Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship | Jane Crafter | Won with par on second extra hole |
| 14 | 1993 | Youngstown-Warren LPGA Classic | Deb Richard | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 15 | 1998 | Sara Lee Classic | Donna Andrews Jenny LidbackBarb Mucha | Mucha won with birdie on second extra hole |
1Co-sanctioned by theLPGA Tour
| Year | Championship | Winning score | Margin | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | LPGA Championship | −13 (71-65-69-70=275) | 6 strokes | Amy Alcott |
| 1985 | LPGA Championship | −15 (65-71-72-65=273) | 8 strokes | Alice Miller |
| 1989 | Mazda LPGA Championship | −14 (71-69-68-66=274) | 3 strokes | Ayako Okamoto |
| Tournament | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LPGA Championship | 1 | T10 | T19 | ||||
| U.S. Women's Open | T18 | T2LA | CUT | 2 | T9 | T11 | T7 |
| du Maurier Classic | 2 | T6 | |||||
| Tournament | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | T6 | T16 | T11 | T33 | T5 | T18 | CUT | |||
| LPGA Championship | T5 | T35 | T21 | T14 | 1 | T28 | T24 | 1 | T14 | |
| U.S. Women's Open | WD | T7 | T35 | T4 | T21 | T12 | 2 | T14 | ||
| du Maurier Classic | T2 | T9 | WD | T8 | T21 | T45 | 9 | |||
| Tournament | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | T30 | CUT | T8 | T9 | T3 | T15 | T23 | T13 | T21 | T43 |
| LPGA Championship | T18 | T25 | WD | T18 | T18 | T37 | T44 | WD | T65 | |
| U.S. Women's Open | T16 | T7 | T35 | T28 | CUT | 2 | CUT | CUT | T46 | |
| du Maurier Classic | T22 | T2 | T27 |
| Tournament | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | T63 | CUT | CUT | WD | CUT | |||||
| LPGA Championship | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | ||||
| U.S. Women's Open | CUT | |||||||||
| Women's British Open ^ |
^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.
LA = low amateur
CUT = missed the half=way cut.
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
Amateur
Professional
Next to her was 20-year-old Nancy Marie Lopez...
Hall of Fame golfer Nancy Lopez in 1957 (age 62)
(also atformer site)| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Flo Hyman Memorial Award 1992 | Succeeded by |
