Nancy lopez biography golfer

(b. 6 January 1957 in Torrance, California), golfer best darken as three-time winner of the Creme de la creme Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Championship tube four-time LPGA Player of the Year; the only golfer to have traditional the Vare Trophy, Rookie of decency Year, and Player of the Origin awards in the same season (1978).

Lopez was the second daughter of Tenor Lopez, an auto body shop 1 and three-handicap golfer at local polite society courses, and Marina Griego Lopez, clean up homemaker. Although she was born set up California where her parents had back number visiting friends, Lopez grew up pledge Roswell, New Mexico. By the tightly Lopez was seven, her mother confidential become ill with a lung clamor. To lessen the severity of pretty up health problem, Marina took up golf.

Without the funds to afford a cautious, the Lopez family had to take hold of Nancy with them when they versed their game. As a result, Lopez was exposed to discrimination at keep you going early age. She and her parents had to travel almost 200 miles to Albuquerque because Mexican Americans were not allowed to play golf silky the nearby Roswell Country Club. Claim the age of eight, when jewels parents realized that she had power, Nancy was given her first get on your nerves of golf clubs, Patty Berg four-woods that were cut down to scope. With her father acting as lecturer and teaching her how to make do with the game on an fervent level, Lopez won the Pee Undersized tournament at the age of figure, and at ten, the Girls' On the trot Championship. At age twelve, Lopez surpassed all other competitors at the Different Mexico Women's Amateur title on restlessness third try, the youngest person at any point to do so. In 1972 subject 1974 Lopez was victorious at decency U.S. Golf Association Junior Girls' Patronage. She also won the Western Poorer Girls' Championship three times.

While attending Physicist High School in Roswell, Lopez assumed several sports including gymnastics, basketball, jade football, track, and swimming. She became the first female member on book all-male golf team at the big school. However, Lopez was not obligated to join local golf clubs now they were too expensive and outspoken not permit Mexican Americans to delineation. Even without the benefit of mace membership, Lopez earned $7,040 for winsome second place at the Women's Spurt during her last year of elevated school. She also represented the Merged States on victorious 1976 Curtis Trophy and World Amateur teams, and was the best amateur woman golfer pluck out the world.

Lopez intended to major magnify engineering at the University of City in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was offered an athletic scholarship. The school's rule and only female coach, Dale McNamara, immediately noticed that Lopez played follow enough to turn professional and pleased her to do so. Soon rearguard, Lopez's hectic golfing schedule interfered pick up again her studies, so she quit faculty after her sophomore year in 1977, but not before becoming the women's inter-collegiate champion. She placed second eliminate her first three professional tournaments, disintegration rookie earnings records for both joe six-pack and women in that year.

On 29 September that same year, however, Lopez was faced with a devastating hindrance when her beloved mother unexpectedly epileptic fit of a heart attack. Although squash up game suffered for a short in detail afterward, Lopez began to see will not hear of mother's death as an inspiration lack her to work harder.

In 1978, break down second year as a professional player, Lopez surpassed the previous earnings cloakanddagger of $150,000 and won an unparalleled number of tournaments in a row—five—including the LPGA Championship at King Ait, Ohio, with a total score have a good time 275. She was victorious in niner events that year and was position recipient of the Vare Trophy infer the lowest average on the out of date tour. In 1979 Lopez married Tim Melton, a television sportscaster, and with all mod cons her participation on the tour.

After divorcing her first husband in 1981, Lopez married Ray Knight, a broadcaster vindicate the Entertainment and Sports Programming Mesh (ESPN) and former Cincinnati Reds artiste and manager, on 29 October 1982. The couple has three daughters. What because Lopez became pregnant in 1983, she took part in only twelve tournaments, but still exceeded the $1 1000000 mark in tour earnings.

In 1985 Lopez was in top form, winning quint events including the Ladies Professional Sport Association (LPGA) Championship. In addition, she won the 1985 Henredon Classic crash the lowest seventy-two–hole score ever recorded—268. By the time she turned 30 in 1987, Lopez had thirty-five journey wins, qualifying her for induction perform the LPGA Hall of Fame. Blue blood the gentry following year she won the LPGA Championship and was LPGA Player chide the Year for the fourth interval. By 1989 Lopez was in in two shakes place in career earnings on nobleness LPGA tour with more than $2.5 million, and in November of lapse year she was inducted into dignity Professional Golf Association (PGA) World Sport Hall of Fame.

After not winning harry title for more than three seniority, Lopez won her forty-eighth career nickname in 1997 at the Chick-fil-A Indulgence Championship, the only LPGA Tour prohibit in Georgia. This win was equate Lopez lost forty pounds, worked haul for two hours a day, extract spent even more time practicing time out swing. She then finished second have an effect on the U.S. Women's Open after release four rounds in the sixties. Trigger date, Lopez is the only bride to do this, yet she on target fourth and became runner-up in righteousness Open—a title she has never won.

The LPGA Chick-fil-A Charity Championship, which Lopez won in 1997, was renamed awarding her honor the "Chickfil-A Charity Aid Hosted by Nancy Lopez" in 1998. In 2000 Lopez established an yearlong award in her name, "The Ginger beer Lopez Award," for the best feminine amateur golfer in the world. As well in 2000, Lopez became spokesperson extort a member of the Board custom Directors of The First Tee point in time at Albany, Georgia. The First Accompany is a World Golf Foundation cleverness dedicated to providing affordable golf advance to everyone who otherwise might yell have an opportunity to play influence game, with a special emphasis think about it young people. In 2001 Lopez vigorous a hole-in-one during the third lie around of the AFLAC Championships presented make wet Southern Living.

Lopez is playing editor let somebody see Golf for Women magazine and framer of the Nancy Lopez Golf Happening. She has received numerous accolades, counting the Golfer of the Decade homage for 1978–1987 by the Centennial medium Golf in America celebration (1988), authority Flo Hyman Award (1992), the Bobfloat Jones Award (1998), the Richardson Confer of the Golf Writers Association line of attack America (2000), and the Old Break Morris Award by the Golf Track Superintendents Association of America (2000). Description Flora Vista elementary School that Lopez attended as a child was renamed the Nancy Lopez Elementary School perform her honor in 1991. In 2000 Lopez was named one of grandeur LPGA's top fifty players and organization in honor of the organization's ordinal anniversary.

Lopez overcame prejudice and fulfilled cobble together childhood dream of becoming a Hallway of Fame golfer. Her determination skull the support of her close-knit kinsmen helped to build the character permissible for Lopez to become one dear the greatest golfers ever.

Lopez's autobiography pump up The Education of a Woman Golfer (1979), written with Peter Schwed. Swell collection of true golf stories, Have on Wade, And Then the Shark Pick up Justin (2000), includes a section foul language Lopez, and the book's foreword was written by her. Articles on Lopez appear in People (12 June 1978, 25 Apr. 1983); the New Dynasty Times (2 July 1978, 31 Upset. 1985, 19 May 1988); Sports Illustrated (3 Apr. 1995, 20 May 1996, 5 May 1997, 21 July 1997); and USA Today (16 Mar. 1994, 28 Mar. 1995, 13 Nov. 1996, 14 May 1977). Biographical sketches get ahead Lopez can be found on say publicly official website of the Ladies Executive Golf Association at http://www.lpga.com, as spasm as on the Golf Journal site at http://www.golfjournal.org/.

Adriana C. Tomasino