Former LPGA Champ Nancy Lopez Is Crazy Busy And Loving It

On the ever-present back burner is her memoir -- working title "The Course of My Life'' -- which is a labor of love. She collaborated on it with good friend and USGA women's golf historian Rhonda Glenn, and it was almost completed before Glenn passed away in February. Lopez is now refining it with the help of another writer.

If that's not enough, there are corporate outings listed on the schedule she can't put her hands on -- an upcoming event for her new Nancy Lopez Golf Adventures, a June Legends Tour event, the 35th-anniversary Nancy Lopez/AIM Golf Tournament in October -- and, well, you get the idea.

At 58, the LPGA and World Golf Hall of Famer who raised three daughters has no intentions of slowing down. She just signed with Chico's clothing, and she's planning a little golf around July's World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at St. Andrews with her boyfriend of five years, Ed Russell.

But at the top her to-do list these days is always a little quality Molly time.

The fresh-faced 20-something whose charismatic smile lit up galleries in 1978 and whose brilliant game redefined the LPGA in that nine-win rookie season now finds herself wrapped around her first grandchild's little finger.

Molly, daughter of Lopez's oldest daughter, Ashley, is a red-haired 2½-year-old bundle of energy who has no clue her grandmother is a golf icon. Or that she won 48 LPGA tournaments, including three LPGA Championships. Or that she was the face of the women's game for decades.

Molly just knows she loves her Di-amie.

espnW: First we have to ask about this new phase of your life. You're a grandmother. How are you adjusting and where did Molly come up with "Di-amie"?

Nancy Lopez: She can't say Grammy, so she says Di-amie. When she says, "I love you, Di-amie," it's just the cutest sound coming out of her mouth. I wish I could be with her all the time, but I can't.

espnW: Ashley played golf, and your youngest daughter, Torri, plays recreational golf, but your middle daughter, Erinn, never really played. Are you planning to introduce Molly to the game?

NL: My goal is to make her a little golfer. Not really a professional golfer unless that's what she wants to. I'd like to see her play in the junior events I played in, and I want her to love golf. I'm not going to force her.

I thought we'd just go out there and just walk around the golf course. We'll start on the first tee, and I'll explain where we are, then we'll walk down the fairway and look at the trees and smell the grass and whatever else is around, then I'll let her putt on the green. I'll just do that for a few holes. I just want to see if I can get her to understand what golf really is. ... Hopefully, if I can get her interested that way first, the rest will come pretty easily and she'll fall in love with it.

espnW: You've started a new venture this year -- Nancy Lopez Golf Adventures. Tell us a bit about it.

NL: I have two great teachers -- Teresa Zamboni and Sue Powers -- who have been in the top-50 teaching division of the LPGA Tour. They're running the business, and they do small schools for the ladies. They teach what I believe in, and our motto is "Play Happy." There are four small schools this year where I'm involved. People can design what they want us to do, and I come with them for a day or two. I'm not just there for lunch or a cocktail party. I'm there teaching.

We have one coming up in Colorado with about 16 women. The ladies will stay at the lodge, and we'll play golf, have dinner at my house in Keystone and I'm going to cook. The next day, we'll play golf and have dinner again. It's more one-on-one, and they like that.

espnW: What else is keeping you busy?

NL: I'm on the board of Smuckers, and I love being on that board. It's a great company. I'm also playing on the Legends Tour, and I'm traveling and playing courses I've never played before. I have a great boyfriend who loves to play golf, and he travels with me. We played Winged Foot, Merion, Bandon Dunes, and we're going to go to Scotland next month.

espnW: And you just signed with Chico's?

NL: It's a neat thing to jump into my portfolio. I still wear my golf apparel, but I wear their fashion wear. I love Chico's. I've spent so much the last five or six years there, I think I paid for my own contract. We're still figuring out exactly how they'll use me, but the big thing with Chico's is they're all about helping women and promoting mentoring. They had a tournament in Fort Myers (Chico's Patty Berg Memorial) this spring with the Symetra Tour and the Legends Tour, and it was awesome.

espnW: With your schedule, how much do you plan to play on the Legends Tour?

NL: I want to play every tournament if I can. I want to be a part of it. I hate to say this, but ... sure, I love to win, but my golf game is always rusty. I don't really have the game I'd like to have going into those Legends events. What I enjoy the most is feeling the pressure. Even though I don't play the way I used to with the pressure, I like the feeling of knowing I have to make a putt or I have to hit a shot into the green when it's almost an impossible shot to hit. I still love that feeling. And playing on the Legends Tour against the players I played head-to-head against (on the LPGA Tour), we're having a great time. Some of them are still playing really well and they're serious about it, which is great.

espnW: The 10th ISPS Handa Cup (a two-day Solheim Cup-style event for Legends players) is moving to Sarasota, Florida, this fall; the USA is defending champion; and you're returning as the American captain. Sally Little will be the International captain again. Is it as pressure-packed as a Solheim Cup?

NL: It's serious. I want my team to win, and they (the team members) want to win. And the rest of the world wants to win. It's the same feeling as the Solheim Cup, it's just the older generation. Time before last, (U.S. captain) JoAnne Carner put Beth Daniel up against Laura Davies and Laura is still just killing it. I think Beth shot 6 under and Laura shot 5 or 4 under. It was incredible. Last year, I put Juli Inkster against Laura and Juli won. The competition is fierce. They're not sitting around twirling their clubs.

espnW: Would you consider being a playing captain?

NL: They told us we could be playing captains, but it's pretty hard to do that. And I don't want to do that. I just know there are players who are better than me, and I don't want to lose. And that's not being a negative, it's reality. If there's somebody out there playing better than me, I want her to win.

I think it's going to be a great success in Sarasota because a lot of those people know us. That's the generation that watched us grow up and play the game.

espnW: The KPMG Women's PGA Championship is this week, and you won that event three times. You beat Amy Alcott by 6 shots in 1978 to win your sixth tournament that year, then beat Alice Miller by 8 in 1985. Your third win was by 3 shots over Ayako Okamoto in 1989. Was one most memorable?

NL: The one in 1985. I got a 2-shot penalty for slow play in the first round. I shot 63 -- the best round of my career -- and they gave me a penalty for slow play and so I shot 65. I never shot another 63. I did shoot 64, but I never shot 63. When that happened, I knew I was going to win. I was so mad, I just wanted to beat everybody.

espnW: You didn't win another major in your career, although you did win the 1981 Colgate Dinah Shore and 1978 and 1979 Colgate European Opens before they were designated as majors. Is there one close call you consider "the one that got away"?

NL: Not winning the U.S. Open was tough. In 1997, when Alison Nicholas beat me, that was really the toughest because I really prepared. I really worked hard, I worked out, I was in great shape and I was playing great golf. Mentally, I was just really, really high, and not being able to beat Alison that year was really devastating. I felt it was my turn to win. You know, all the tournaments I finished second in, I never really had an emotional feeling for second other than that U.S. Open. I really struggled to get over that. It took me quite a while.

She really played well. She was really pumped up to play against me, and when I hit a good shot, she hit one better, and it was just that kind of day.

espnW: When people think of you, they think of that cover of Sports Illustrated in 1978 where you're smiling. They see that smile, the fun you were having and what you were bringing to women's golf. What do you see when you look at it?

NL: I see a very young person who was having just a great time. I was really such a baby. I remember the whole scenario that day being in the trees in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I had my little watch my mom had bought me. I didn't have a Rolex then, and Rolex stands for everything in golf now. I wore my little outfit. I didn't have a clothing contract. I was basically pretty brand-new, and I see how, when I started, I didn't really have anything except a golf game.

My mom and dad gave me what they could, but I tried to go on tour and not have them spend any more money on me, so I was pretty much on my own.

espnW: And the timing was interesting. They shot that photo early in the week of the Lady Keystone. You had just won five events in 38 days, and you were going for your sixth win in a row.

NL: I was pretty worn out. I was totally exhausted. There was a lot of pressure, a lot of press. I think (Pat) Bradley beat me by 10 shots. I couldn't focus. I would stand over a putt and think about having a Quarter Pounder with Cheese because I loved McDonald's back then.

espnW: You've had so many honors during your career, including the LPGA Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame. Does one or two stand out?

NL: I would have to say making the LPGA Hall of Fame was No. 1 and the World Golf Hall of Fame was second. The criteria to get into the LPGA Hall of Fame was really, really difficult, and to be able to reach that goal ... my rookie year, my goal was to win one tournament, and never in my whole life did I think I would get in the Hall of Fame. (Back then, a player had to win 30 tournaments, including two different majors; 35 tournaments with one major; or 40 events with no majors).

Winning the Bob Jones Award (in 1998) was a big award for me, too, because of what the award stands for. My contribution and the way I was as a golfer and the way he was -- the way he comported himself -- when you can be honored for those reasons more than just winning, that's a big honor.

espnW: Which current LPGA player reminds you most of you?

NL: Lydia Ko because I look at her when they interview her and she's such a baby, in a good way. She's just so young. I was just like that. I was naive. I was just playing golf and just having a good time, and I look at her and she's doing that. Playing. Loves it. Loves the adoration of people, which I did, too. I thought "wow, this is cool."

I hope everyone leaves her alone and lets her figure it out on her own. ... I think players today have too many people around them and aren't allowed to think on their own. If you have her talent, you should be able to go out there and figure it out, and I think she can.

espnW: What's your take on the youth movement on tour? Players such as Ko and Thompson are taking women's golf by storm.

NL: Sometimes I shake my head and say "aren't they going to let these kids be kids?" For example, if Michelle Wie were my daughter, I would never have put her up against a bunch of men to play at age 14 because she has a mind of 14. Her golf game wasn't 14, but her mind was. I truly believe that we just cannot take the childhood away from these young girls.

I know the money is there and it's very enticing, but we, as parents, have to protect our children. We need to give them a chance to play the game, learn the game and to win and lose before they get on the tour. ... You have child prodigies like Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson and you have these superstars, but you have this group that thinks they're superstars and just wants to go on the tour.

espnW: You've seen a lot of changes in women's golf in 37 years. What's the biggest challenge the women's game still faces?

NL: I truly believe Americans need to start winning more. It's a universal tour, and we have players from all over the world who are beating us, and that's OK, but American players need to find a way to be better. ... I always give the example of when Se Ri Pak invited me to Korea and I was Nancy Lopez over here, but over there it didn't matter. They wanted Se Ri to win. They wanted their own to win, and that's how it is. It's human nature. We want Americans to win, and that makes it more interesting.