Lopez Wants to Regain Position as No. 1 Golfer

RANCHO MIRAGE â€”  Nancy Lopez believes in warning golfing rivals. After she won the Mazda tournament in early February, she proclaimed, “I want to be No. 1 again.â€�

The last time Lopez said that was in 1985, shortly after the birth of her first daughter, Ashley Marie. It was no contest.

She won five tournaments that year and a then-record $416,472. It was the first time a female golfer had won $400,000 in one year. She had a streak of 12 consecutive finishes in the Top 5 and missed the Top 10 only four times in 25 tournaments.

Lopez averaged 70.73 strokes for 93 rounds and became the first LPGA player to average less than 71 strokes for an entire season. That record still stands.

She has her sights set on regaining the throne as queen of golf with a victory in the $500,000 Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament, starting Thursday at Mission Hills Country Club.

It is the richest major championship in women’s golf, which offers an $80,000 first prize, and it is her favorite tournament, according to Lopez.

Among the golfers she must beat, however, are defending champion Betsy King; Japan’s Ayako Okamoto, the LPGA Player of the Year; England’s Laura Davies, the U.S. Open Champion; LPGA winner Jane Geddes; Patty Sheehan, who lost to King in a playoff in the Dinah Shore last year; Pat Bradley; resurging JoAnne Carner; Amy Alcott; Jan Stephenson and oncoming Rosie Jones, among others.

But Lopez said her primary goal is to win the U.S. Women’s Open. “I want to win the U.S. Open and then just keep on winning the majors,� she said. She tied for second in the 1975 Open as an amateur and was second in 1976 in her first professional tournament. It has been her highest finish in the Open.

Flashing that radiant smile, she added another goal, “I want to be the only player to be No. 1 with two babies.� Ashley Marie, (4 1/2), and Erinn Shea (22 months) usually travel with Nancy and a nanny. “I feel guilty when I leave them at home,� she said.

Lopez was golf’s Wunderkind in 1978. Only 21, she won nine tournaments, including a record five straight, and all the post-season awards.

She acknowledges it will be more difficult this time around. “So many players are now shooting such low rounds the last day that you can’t afford to be conservative if you’re the leader. But I’m playing more mature golf now. If I’m hitting the ball solidly I feel I’ve got a chance to win any tournament,� she said.

Lopez, 31, is one of the rare athletes who has the ability to elevate her performance to the highest level.

She was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame last July in Tiffany’s, no less. Husband Ray Knight gave her a pendant with 35 diamonds (representing each of her victories). She was lauded by luminaries via videotape, including Jack Nicklaus and President Reagan.

Pretty heady stuff, which made it difficult for her to get back to work, especially with two young children. In August, she was in 21st place on the money list.

“I set a goal for myself to have a decent year in 1987 and that meant finishing in the Top 10,� said Lopez, who has never finished lower than seventh in any full year of competition. “I hadn’t been hitting the ball badly all year so I started working more on my putting. That’s when things turned around.�

She began a stretch drive of three consecutive seconds and her 36th victory in the Cellular-One Ping Championship in Portland. The next week in the Safeco, she lost by a shot to Jan Stephenson, despite finishing 66-67.

In that brilliant 2-2-2-1-2 record of finishes in five consecutive tournaments, Lopez won $115,124, more than half of her 1987 earnings of $204,823. In 18 events, she achieved her goal and finished seventh on the money charts.

Lopez is on track to become the third player--and youngest--to win $2 million behind Pat Bradley and JoAnne Carner, yet she isn’t overly thrilled. “Money winnings don’t mean all that much anymore because purses are going to keep increasing. Winning majors is what’s important and, well, just winning,� she said.

Winning came quickly this year. She won tournament No. 37 in early February, the first event of the year, the Mazda tournament. “I was swinging well, had a lot of momentum carrying over from last year and had a lot of positive feelings. It (the win) gives me a positive attitude about the whole year.�

Lopez and Miller Barber combined to win the Mazda Championship (an LPGA-Senior pairing) in Jamaica in late December and split the $500,000 first prize.

Husband Ray helped too. When Barber experienced putting difficulties, Knight, a good golfer and Lopez’s greatest motivator, told Barber on the practice green that he was moving his head while stroking the putt. Barber’s putting improved, but in the final nine holes, Nancy birdied three of the last seven and her score counted on seven holes.

The Knights have been forced into the moving business lately. When Knight, the MVP of the 1986 World Series, left the champion New York Mets for the Baltimore Orioles, they made their first move. At the end of 1987, the family moved into a larger home in Georgia. When everything appeared stable, last month Knight was traded to the Detroit Tigers.

Lopez canceled plans to play in Hawaii and this week is passing the Turquoise tournament in Phoenix to look for a house in Detroit. She’s only played three 1988 tournaments and won $39,233, but said, “I’m going to play a lot of tournaments this year. A lot more.�