Nancy Marie Lopez (born January 6, 1957) is an American former professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events, including three major championships.
Early life
In 1969, at the age of 12, Lopez won the New Mexico Women's Amateur. She later won the U.S. Girls' Junior in 1972 and 1974, at ages 15 and 17, respectively. Shortly after graduation from Goddard High School in Roswell, she played in the U.S. Women's Open as an amateur, first in 1974 and again in 1975, when she tied for second.
Amateur career In 1976, as a collegiate freshman, Lopez was named All-American and Female Athlete of the Year for her play at the University of Tulsa. That year, she won the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national intercollegiate 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 professional in 1977, and again was the runner-up at the U.S. Women's Open.
Professional career In 1978, during her first full season on the LPGA Tour, she won nine tournaments, including five consecutive. She appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in July, won the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, and was named LPGA Rookie of the Year, LPGA Player of the Year, and Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year. She won another eight times in 1979, and won multiple times in each year from 1980 to 1984, although she played only half-seasons in 1983 and 1984 due to the birth of her first child.
Playing full-time again in 1985, Lopez posted five wins, five seconds, and five thirds, won the money title, the scoring title, and 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 in 1986, when her second daughter was born, but came back with multiple wins in 1987–89 – three times each in 1988 and 1989 – 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. In 1992, she won twice. Lopez continued to play short schedules - from 11 to 18 tournaments - through 2002, then in 2003, she cut back to just a half dozen or fewer events a year.
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 three majors, and all were at the LPGA Championship, at the same course, in 1978, 1985, and 1989. Lopez never won the U.S. Women's Open, but finished second four times, the last in 1997, when she became the first in the event's history to score under 70 for all four rounds, yet lost to Alison Nicholas. She won the Colgate-Dinah Shore in 1981, two years before it became a major, and was a runner-up three times at the du Maurier Classic in Canada.
Lopez was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1987. She was a member of the United States Solheim Cup team in 1990 and was captain of the team in 2005. 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. In 2008, she played in three events, with a low score of 76, never making the cut. She was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
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.
Personal life Lopez was married to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania sportscaster Tim Melton from 1979 to 1982, whom she met while playing in the Lady Keystone Open in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Shortly after her divorce, she married Major League All-Star baseball player Ray Knight, then a member of the Houston Astros, in October 1982 in Pelham, Georgia. They were married for 27 years, divorcing in 2009, and have three daughters. While married, Lopez and Knight lived in Georgia in his hometown of Albany. Since 1986, she has hosted the Nancy Lopez Hospice Golf Classic at the Doublegate Country Club to raise money for Albany Community Hospice, returning yearly even after her divorce from Knight in 2009.
She currently resides in The Villages, Florida, where she hosts an annual golf tournament to benefit the charity Adventures in Movement (AIM), 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.
In 2017, Lopez married for a third time to Ed Russell.
Awards and honors
In 1978, during her rookie year, Lopez had an outstanding season and won a number of prestigious awards: the LPGA Rookie of the Year award, the Vare Trophy, the LPGA Player of the Year award, the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award, and was the money winner In 1979, she again earned a number of prestigious accolades: the Vare Trophy, money list title, and Player of the Year award. In 1985, she won a number of prestigious titles once more: she won the LPGA money title, the Vare Trophy, the LPGA Player of the Year award, and was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for a second time. In 1987, Lopez was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 1987, she won the LPGA's William and Mousie Powell Award, bestowed to the player who "whose behavior and deeds best exemplifies the spirit, ideals and values of the LPGA." In 1988, she earned the LPGA Player of the Year title for a third time. In 1992, earned the Flo Hyman Award, an award given to an inspirational female athlete. In 1998, the United States Golf Association (USGA) bestowed upon her the Bob Jones Award, its highest honor. In 2000, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America gave her the Old Tom Morris Award, given to an individual who "through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris." In 2002, she was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Amateur wins this list may be incomplete 1969 New Mexico Women's Amateur 1970 New Mexico Women's Amateur 1971 New Mexico Women's Amateur 1972 U.S. Girls' Junior, Women's Western Junior 1973 Women's Western Junior 1974 U.S. Girls' Junior, Women's Western Junior 1975 Mexican Amateur 1976 AIAW National Championship, Women's Western Amateur, Women's Trans National Amateur
Professional wins (51) LPGA Tour wins (48) LegendLPGA Tour major championships (3)Other LPGA Tour (45) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up1Feb 26, 1978Bent Tree Classic +1 (71-72-73-73=289)1 stroke Jo Ann Washam2Mar 12, 1978Sunstar Classic−3 (72-72-70-71=285)1 stroke Debbie Austin Debbie Massey3May 14, 1978Greater Baltimore Classic−7 (67-73-72=212)3 strokes Donna Caponi4May 21, 1978Coca-Cola Classic−3 (69-71-70=210)Playoff JoAnne Carner5May 29, 1978Golden Lights Championship−11 (67-72-73-65=277)1 stroke Jane Blalock6Jun 11, 1978LPGA Championship−13 (71-65-69-70=275)6 strokes Amy Alcott7Jun 18, 1978Bankers Trust Classic−5 (72-73-69=214)2 strokes Jane Blalock Debbie Massey8Aug 6, 1978Colgate European Open−7 (73-71-72-73=289)3 strokes JoAnne Carner Mary Dwyer Sally Little9Nov 12, 1978Colgate Far East OpenE (75-69-72=216)2 strokes Silvia Bertolaccini Kathy Whitworth10Mar 11, 1979Sunstar Classic−8 (70-71-70-69=280)1 stroke Hollis Stacy11Mar 25, 1979Sahara National Pro-Am−16 (72-67-66-69=274)2 strokes Donna Caponi12May 6, 1979Women's International−6 (72-71-71-68=282)3 strokes Donna White13May 20, 1979Coca-Cola Classic−3 (73-70-73=216)Playoff Bonnie Bryant Hollis Stacy Jo Ann Washam Mickey Wright14Jun 3, 1979Golden Lights Championship−8 (67-70-73-70=280)4 strokes Pat Bradley15Jun 24, 1979Lady Keystone Open−4 (72-68-72=212)2 strokes Sally Little Kathy Whitworth16Aug 5, 1979Colgate European Open−6 (68-69-70-75=282)4 strokes Joyce Kazmierski17Sep 30, 1979Mary Kay Classic−14 (71-66-67-70=274)2 strokes Sandra Post18Mar 30, 1980Women's Kemper OpenE (72-66-77-69=284)2 strokes Debbie Massey Jo Ann Washam19Jun 29, 1980The Sarah Coventry−9 (73-67-72-71=283)1 stroke Pat Bradley20Sep 1, 1980Rail Charity Golf Classic−13 (65-71-71-68=275)1 stroke JoAnne Carner21Mar 8, 1981Arizona Copper Classic−14 (70-72-68-68=278)4 strokes Pat Bradley22Apr 5, 1981Colgate-Dinah Shore−11 (71-73-69-64=277)2 strokes Carolyn Hill23Jun 28, 1981The Sarah Coventry−3 (74-69-71-71=285)2 strokes Pat Bradley24Mar 21, 1982J&B Scotch Pro-Am−5 (70-67-69-73=279)5 strokes Sandra Haynie25Nov 7, 1982Mazda Japan Classic−9 (66-70-71=207)6 strokes Amy Alcott26Feb 6, 1983Elizabeth Arden Classic−3 (71-71-70-73=285)1 stroke Pat Bradley JoAnne Carner Stephanie Farwig Betsy King27Apr 10, 1983J&B Scotch Pro-Am−6 (71-69-69-74=283)1 stroke Laura Baugh28Mar 4, 1984Uniden LPGA InvitationalE (70-74-66-74=284)3 strokes Pat Bradley29Aug 19, 1984Chevrolet World Championship of Women's Golf−7 (69-74-65-73=281)1 stroke JoAnne Carner30May 19, 1985Chrysler-Plymouth Classic−9 (69-69-72=210)3 strokes Pat Bradley31Jun 2, 1985LPGA Championship−15 (65-71-72-65=273)8 strokes Alice Miller32Jul 7, 1985Mazda Hall of Fame Championship−7 (71-70-72-68=281)3 strokes JoAnne Carner Allison Finney33Aug 11, 1985Henredon Classic−20 (66-67-69-66=268)10 strokes Val Skinner34Sep 8, 1985Portland Ping Championship−1 (69-76-70=215)Playoff Lori Garbacz35Feb 8, 1987Sarasota Classic−7 (73-66-68-74=281)3 strokes Kathy Guadagnino Anne Marie Palli36Sep 13, 1987Cellular One-Ping Golf Championship−6 (72-67-71=210)1 stroke Kelly Leadbetter Muffin Spencer-Devlin Jan Stephenson37Feb 7, 1988Mazda Classic−5 (69-68-71-75=283)2 strokes Marta Figueras-Dotti38Apr 17, 1988AI Star/Centinela Hospital Classic−6 (71-72-67=210)Playoff Marta Figueras-Dotti39May 15, 1988Chrysler-Plymouth Classic−12 (68-70-66=204)8 strokes Jan Stephenson40May 21, 1989Mazda LPGA Championship−14 (71-69-68-66=274)3 strokes Ayako Okamoto41Jul 30, 1989Atlantic City Classic−10 (67-70-69=206)1 stroke Christa Johnson Vicki Fergon42Sep 24, 1989Nippon Travel-MBS Classic−11 (73-69-65-70=277)2 strokes Alice Ritzman Pamela Wright43Sep 23, 1990MBS LPGA Classic−7 (69-70-74-68=281)Playoff Cathy Gerring44May 5, 1991Sara Lee Classic−10 (65-70-71=206)2 strokes Kris Monaghan45Sep 7, 1992Rail Charity Golf Classic−17 (67-68-64=199)Playoff Laura Davies46Sep 13, 1992Ping-Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship−7 (70-70-69=209)Playoff Jane Crafter47Jul 11, 1993Youngstown-Warren LPGA Classic−13 (68-68-67=203)Playoff Deb Richard48Apr 27, 1997Chick-fil-A Charity Championship−7 (71-66=137)2 strokes Tina Barrett Deb Richard Karrie Webb Note: Lopez won the Colgate-Dinah Shore (now known as the Kraft Nabisco Championship) before it became a major championship.
LPGA Tour playoff record (8–7)