Nancy Lopez - Part 1 (The Early Years and U.S. Open Near-Misses)

World Golf Hall of Fame member Nancy Lopez begins her story growing up and learning the game under the watchful eye of her father in Roswell, New Mexico. She had astounding success as a junior player winning her state's amateur title as a 12, 13 and 14-year-old. Nancy played on the boy's team in high school after successfully challenging an arcane rule that stood in her way. She won the U.S. Girls Junior, the Women's Western Junior 3 times and, competed in the Women's U.S. Open twice (with a T2 as Low Am in 1975) all before starting college. She was an All-American at Tulsa, the Women's collegiate champion, a Curtis Cup Team member (meeting the Queen) and won the Women's Western Amateur before deciding to turn professional after two years of college. Nancy finishes this episode reflecting on a couple of her near-misses in the Women's U.S. Open including her tough loss to Alison Nicholas in 1997. Nancy Lopez begins her life story, "FORE the Good of the Game."

Transcript

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to play.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin. I've got to say this may be the visit with a past LPGA star that I've most looked forward to.

Bruce Devlin 0:28

Well, I'd have to say the same thing, too. And you know, she's got a common thread in her life, and it's the number three. She's been married three times. She's got three children. She's won three majors. And it took her three zero years to get into the World Golf Hall of Fame. And while she was doing that, she won 51 golf tournaments, 47 on the LP, 48 on the LPJ tour. And it is indeed a great pleasure to have Nancy Lopez with us this morning. Nancy, my as Mike said, we've been looking forward to this for a long time. Thank you for joining us.

Nancy Lopez 1:09

Well, thanks, Bruce. Thanks, Mike. Um, you know, when you went through COVID, we're supposed to do our our thing then, and I'm just glad you guys are doing well now.

Bruce Devlin 1:18

Well, thank you.

Mike Gonzalez 1:19

Thank you. Yeah, we we're all recovered, and uh, as I said, we we've really been looking forward to this. As we've talked about, uh, we're here to tell your story, and it's uh always uh the right place to start is at the very beginning. So uh we want to take you through your childhood, how you learned the game, tell us a little about your family and so forth. So uh we know you were born in California, but uh uh you ended up growing up in Roswell, New Mexico.

Nancy Lopez 1:45

Right. Well, as the story goes, um uh I'm I'm adopted, which a lot of people don't know that. Uh my sister is adopted. My mom and dad uh adopted us because they couldn't have children, and my sister um tells me because I I said I'm writing a book, and she told me that they wouldn't have adopted adopted me unless she said it was okay. So I'm like, oh um, so I was born in Torrance, California, and my mom uh and my father the father that adopted me, Domingo, that was my father from birth, uh, my real mom was his sister. So as I'm growing up um with my dad that adopted me, my real mom was my aunt. And so I didn't know her as my mother at all. It uh until I was about seven. My mom Marina, who adopted me, uh told me that I was adopted and that my aunt was my mom. And I think she told me that at that time just uh because she thought I could understand it. Um so I started playing golf. Uh well, I started really just walking around with my mom and dad. My mom played golf just for the exercise. Dad was a pretty good amateur golfer, probably about a three or four handicap on the municipal golf course that I grew up in, Roswell. Of course, everybody knows Roswell as a place where the aliens landed.

Mike Gonzalez 3:22

Yeah, did you see any UFOs there?

Nancy Lopez 3:27

And uh, so I would walk around with my mom and dad on the golf course. Um, dad enjoyed the golf, joy enjoyed his golf game. And like I said, my mom just did it for the exercise. So, really about at age seven and a half, uh, my dad decided to put a club in my hand. And the way I remember it and and the way he tells it as as he got older and I got older, um when I started playing, my first lesson was from my dad. And my dad was a very simple golfer, great mental game. I don't know where he learned about the mental part of golf, but he taught me that mental game, I think that which made my game pretty, pretty strong uh during the time I was playing. And um, so when I was playing with him, my dad uh gave me a golf club, and the only instruction he gave me that he had this really strong Spanish accent. He said, Nancy, every time you swing at the ball, make connection.

Mike Gonzalez 4:28

I thought, okay. That's a pretty good tip. That's a great thought.

Nancy Lopez 4:33

That's pretty easy. So I thought it was. So, of course, my mom and dad are hitting down the fairway, and I'm swinging, trying to make connection. And I used to like stick my tongue out because I try and bite my tongue while I was trying to do it. And um, so that was my first lesson for my dad. So that was my goal. The whole time they're playing, I'm back behind them, trying to hit it, trying to make connection. And that's how I started playing golf. Um, I fell in love with it. Once I made connection, there was a feeling that wow, what a great feeling to make contact with a golf ball and see it elevate and go a little bit. So time goes on, probably a short time, because my dad said that one one of the days when I was trying to stay up with them by making connection, he said a ball came flying over their head. And of course, he'd turn around because he he was angry, he thought somebody had hit into us. And he and it was so cute because he said, I turned around, I was mad because I thought somebody had hit into us, and he said, But it was only my little Nancy. And I thought that was so cute when he told me that story. Um, he was he was just such a a great sports father because as I was growing up, he always encouraged me, never discouraged me, and he knew I was always giving 100% uh because I wanted to do the best I could. Well, he put me my first pee-wee tournament when I was eight years, almost nine, and it was in Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was a three-day pee-wee event, nine holes each day. And I was probably shooting around 68, 69 for nine holes at that time. Um, and so I went to the Pee-Wee event and I ended up winning by 110 shots. So I was a little bit better than the Peewee show.

Bruce Devlin 6:32

That's funny.

Nancy Lopez 6:33

And what's what's really amazing, I remember being there. Um, there's some pictures of me, and I look like Dick Tracy, had the little hat that Dick Tracy wore. My shirt was buttoned up and it was cotton, of course, it didn't give at all. I had the we called them pedal pushers back in those days. I had the ankle socks, um, and I had my little cart. I mean, this picture is horrifying, but it's it's me when I was just eight years old. Um, and I remember getting my little trophy. Um, and I and you know, now I teach, and so I always tell people you have to start somewhere. So I always tell them the story about when I was playing in that tournament. I was making, it was like I was just for two days I just played this par five terribly, and I made a 15 on it. And I remember sitting in the hotel room that night and telling my dad, Dad, I keep making a 15 on that par five, and I know I can make a 10. I always tell people you've got to start somewhere, and it's you know not gonna be perfect when you first start playing golf. So that's pretty much how I started playing golf at a very young age and fell in love with it because all I wanted to do was play golf and practice and hopefully keep Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 7:48

Did you speak uh Spanish uh at home? Your your did your parents speak Spanish at home, or was it always English with you?

Nancy Lopez 7:54

Uh my mom and dad spoke Spanish to me, but I answered in English.

Mike Gonzalez 7:58

Okay.

Nancy Lopez 7:58

Uh never could really conjugate verbs and stuff like that. Um, I understood it. I understood it when I read it, but if I tried to translate from English to Spanish, I couldn't do it. Um so you know, I do understand Spanish, um mostly every word. And when I was on the LPJ tour, the Spanish speaking players, they would they would be in the locker room speaking Spanish, and then they'd see me and they'd kind of look at me, and I'm like, I understand you, so don't talk about me. And they'd all kind of laugh.

Mike Gonzalez 8:31

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it kind of skipped my generation in our household. Um, my my father's family was from Spain, and uh, and of course we always heard it from my grandparents, but never at home because my mother didn't speak it. But I was just curious as to whether you grew up with that or not.

Nancy Lopez 8:48

Well, I I tried to speak Spanish every once in a while, and um I remember my my grandmother, my dad's mom, and which would have been my real mom's mom too, uh, we traveled to California to see her, and her eyesight wasn't very good. And so, um, and you'll you'll you'll know this, Mike. So I asked my dad how I could ask grandma if she could see well. And um he said, You can ask her, Midas vien. You know, that means can you s you know look good? Can you see good? And um, so I went into the house and I went to my grandmother and I said, Mierdas vien. Which means, do you poop well?

Bruce Devlin 9:35

Yeah.

Nancy Lopez 9:37

My grandmother started laughing. She started laughing. I'm like, why is she laughing? You know, because she did not understand English at all. And so I went and told my dad, and my grandma told my dad what I said, and so it was a big, big laugh for everybody.

Mike Gonzalez 9:57

Well, anyway, so you got off to a really good start uh as a junior, but how did your game develop? I mean, who was teaching? Was it your father? Were there other people that were influential on you learning the game?

Nancy Lopez 10:09

Yeah, my dad was my only teacher. Um, I really didn't have any lessons till really, really late in my career. Um uh I took uh short game lessons from Dave Pells like at the end of my career. Um, but dad was the only teacher I ever had. I mean, people would come up and give me tips and stuff like that. Um, but the it was I had enough sense to listen to some of it and then not listen to a lot of it because I had a really unorthodox swing, which you know, my dad handed me the golf club. I gripped it, and my grip was like really spread apart. That's the way I hit it. Um, and he didn't try and change anything. I was making good contact, and then then on my own, um, I started deciding that maybe I needed to change a little bit. So I started bringing my grip together. Um It was really separated. I had gripped it like this, so I started I all of a sudden I just kind of gripped it normal. Went from shooting low forties to like 45, 46. My dad said, What what are you doing? And I said, Well, dad, I want to get my grip right. He says, You can't do it all at one time. He said, 'Cause you won't play good. He said, Do it gradually. So I would walk around the house with the club here, and then I kind of moved it a little bit there, and then I played with it there, and then I brought it in a little bit more, and then finally I got it to where it was a pretty normal grip. Um But I decided that I needed to do that on my own. Um dad didn't try and change it. I didn't nobody else, I don't want anybody else to tell me to change it. Um, so and then and then I had this little cut shot, which I could play very well. Um I played in the Women's US Open in Atlantic City with Joanne Carner, who was my idol. And um I kept thinking I needed to stop playing this cut shot. Well, I'm playing with my idol, and she hits this cut shot. And I'm like, oh well, I don't need to change. Joanne Carner still plays that cut shot as well with it. I have a cut shot, I'm good with it. So I went with the cut shot for a while, and then I ended up saying, No, you know, I want to hit it straight. I want to maybe move it right to left. So I started working on that. And all my golf game was all feel. I I I just felt what I did. I would hit so many golf balls that I could feel when I could turn the ball over, I could feel when I hit the cut shot. Um, so I pretty much taught myself everything that I learned as a shot maker on the driving range. Um, and dad pretty much just, you know, watched me, make sure my head stood still, make sure I had kept my eyes on the back of the ball, just a lot of simple things that he would check um for me when I was playing. Um, but he knew my golf game. And the thing about my dad, like I said, mentally, he was he taught me to be probably one of the toughest players in my mind when I was out on the golf course competing. Um, he he made me not fear any, he talked about so many things to make me not fear what I was doing out in the golf course, but yet if I failed, um, you know, he felt like I learned from failing. And it wasn't about, you know, why didn't you make that putt? What were you thinking? He never did that to me. And I think that happens to a lot of even professional golfers still on the LPJ tour, that the parents or the father or somebody is, you know, putting all that negative thinking into their head. And you, and as a golfer, you just can't be negative. I mean, I'll always say you can't, you know, when there's water, you don't want to try not to hit it in the water. It's all about hitting it where you want to hit it. It's all about doing something, not trying to do so, not trying to do something wrong. And I think with that, my dad always just taught me to be positive. And, you know, yeah, I struggled. There was some times um that I struggled, but I tried to always go back to what he taught me, and it helped me get through that negative time um of playing golf. And, you know, you feel you feel pressure a lot when on that you put on yourself. But when you're out there playing, um you're trying to do your best, you're trying to give 100%. And that's what my dad always taught me that there was gonna be a lot of people that are gonna beat me out there on the LPJ tour or even junior golf or amateur golf. But he said, as long as I gave 100%, I had to walk away satisfied. And that's the way I really tried to play golf all the time is even if I was struggling, I'm gonna stand over that one shot and give a hundred percent. And whether it goes good or bad, I still could say I I gave my all over every shot that I stood over.

Mike Gonzalez 14:50

Yeah. Bruce, you know, it's it's fascinating uh talking to Nancy, but also talking to 50 some other champions, uh most all of them major champions, many of them World Golf Hall of Famers. You see these common threads in terms of approach to the game, mental approach to the game, staying positive, eliminating the negative, committing. You know, when you make a decision on a shot, committing, just so many common threads that we we hear, Nancy, across all of your great play you great players.

Nancy Lopez 15:20

Well, I I think that that's true.

Bruce Devlin 15:22

Yeah, you pick a guy like uh Nicholas, for instance, you know, he could be uh you could talk with him all the way down to about 15 yards short of where he hit his driver, and then it was like cut off. You know, he's back into his zone thinking about what he's trying to do, making sure that he's gone through his routine, and then, like you said, uh, you know, 100% with every shot, whether it works or not.

Mike Gonzalez 15:52

Even eliminating the negative, Nancy. Uh I remember Nick Price talking about how he took he and Squeak Medlin when when they were together, took several months just to eliminate all the negative out of their conversation on the golf course. They'd fine each other if you know somebody said, Well, you you know, you don't don't you know d stay out of that bunker on the right, or you know, you got water left. It was always the opposite, it was always a positive thought.

Nancy Lopez 16:17

Yeah, absolutely. I um I started this little thing with um some of the schools I was teaching at when I first started, and it it just came into my mind, and it's been a good thing because when I teach, I always talk about it. And um talk about a school that I did um years ago at the villages, Florida, and you've got we've had 30 students. There were, you know, men and women, husband, wives, just some women just came, some guys just came, and everybody comes in, they're and they're getting ready to sit down in the chairs that we had provided for them. And I'm watching people, and I feel like I kind of sense people when they walk in and you know how they carry themselves, if they make eye contact with me. Um, so everybody's walking in, and this husband and wife are walking in, and the wife is happy, you can see she's excited to be there. And then I looked at the husband, and he was looking down and he and he looked intimidated, maybe he didn't want to be there. He looked very negative, body posture was really negative, and I made up my mind at that moment that he was gonna be my victim for the next three days. And I said, I know this guy's got issues on the golf course. So what I did was I stood in front of everybody and I said, I know you all don't know each other. I said, but this is gonna be a positive three days of teaching. And if anybody says anything negative, I'm talking about, you know, the greens are too slow, they're too undulating, the rough is high, it's hot, whatever. I want you to look at each other and say, Whang, whan everybody was like laughing, you know, and the wife, I looked at the wife and she was it was like a light bulb came on, like, oh my gosh, this is gonna be so great. I'm gonna be able to use this on my husband. So we break into sessions, and I've got him in my first session of chipping. There was about 10 people, and I show them, I give them a tip, show them what to do, and he's standing over the chip shot and he's chipping, and I'm watching him now. He's getting frustrated and all of a sudden he says, I can't do this. And I went, Wow, wow. And he looks at me and he was not happy that I did that to him. And I said, You can do that, this, you can do this. Let me show you again. So I showed him my little tip again and watched him, and he and he got better, but he was really struggling and mentally more than anything. So, you know, you hear the next two days, everybody's wah-whanging each other and they're laughing about it, but they realized, as golfers, how negative they were. So the last day, I play one hole with each group. So I I walk up to the T, and there's this man and his and her husband and his husband, his wife, sorry. There's the guy with his wife, and I'm walking up, and she's so excited to see me, and he's not. Um, so I walk up and and he hits his shot, and it just barely goes left in the rough. And in Florida, there's not very much rough. So he kind of dropped his club because he just went left a little bit. And I said, Wham, wan. And he says, I didn't say anything. I said, That body language was so negative. You dropped your club. I said, Come up here. So he walks up on the T. I said, You can see your ball, can't you? And he says, Yes. I said, You can take a backswing, right? Yes. You could hit it in from there. So let's go to the next shot and be positive. He was not happy with me. So we get up to a shot that's in the rough, which is no rough. And so he swings and he hits his shot into the bunker right of the green. And he lifts his arms up, he goes, Yes, I'm in the bunker. And I'm like, No, that's not what I mean. You're in the bunker, you have a swing, you can still knock it in. So he it's like he was ignoring me. So we finished that school. Three months later, we have another school. Six months later, we have another school, and here the wife and the husband are coming back to that.

Bruce Devlin 20:32

Back again.

Nancy Lopez 20:33

And she was happy and he was looking at me. He his body language was much different than it was when he came the first time. And he's walking towards me and he's making eye contact with me. And I'm like, oh my gosh, what is he gonna say to me? He walked up to me, looking at me right into my eyes, and he said, Nancy, I am playing the best golf I've ever played in my life. And I felt really good because I'm like, we've changed this guy.

Bruce Devlin 21:02

Yeah.

Nancy Lopez 21:03

His wife at him because he was probably a very negative person. Um, and so it was kind of neat to feel like I I helped somebody be positive in golf, and maybe in his personal life, because I think personal life and golf both kind of you know join together in the way that you are. Yeah. Um, so it was kind of fun to be able to do that. So I kind of teach that, and it's fun because people do realize how negative they are on the golf course.

Bruce Devlin 21:31

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that you also notice too about being you, you know, when you're talking about golf and life together, if you're unhappy in life, then you've got little chance of playing great golf. I can tell you that for sure.

Nancy Lopez 21:46

You're you're right, Bruce. It's hard. I I I was taught telling some people the other day what my life was kind of like, in that, you know, when you struggle with two marriages and you're trying to focus and trying to play golf. Um That what I really tried to do was when I walked inside the ropes, I knew I couldn't do anything with what was going on outside the ropes. And if I was going to be inside the ropes, I had to give my best because otherwise I was wasting my time. And so I was able to focus on and I made that a point to just focus on what I was doing inside the ropes. And when I was done and I walked outside the ropes, I dealt with life and what was going on outside those ropes. And fortunately I was able to do that and and accomplish whatever I could on the golf course. And then of course try and be the best I could outside the ropes.

Mike Gonzalez 22:38

Yeah, that that's a such a great point that you guys bring up. We had a guest on recently who was making a similar point. And I think it came up as we were going through their record, Nancy. And you know, you you go year by year by year by year, and some years you have good years, some years, you know, you you don't quite get it to the finish line. And one of us asked, you know, well, what was going on during that part of your career? And it was a one-word answer. Well, life was going on. And what our listeners, I think, are coming to appreciate is each of you had stuff going on that nobody sees that you're dealing with. And I mean, I I, you know, I I'm a I'm a seven handicap, or I can't relate to the professional game and playing it for a living, but I can relate to certain tournaments or events I've played in where things weren't good at the home when I left and I took it to the golf course. I just couldn't get it out of my head. So what you guys had to deal with was at a whole nother level.

Nancy Lopez 23:36

Absolutely. I mean, you still have life, even though you're trying to compete and you know, practice, and and and then then then I ended up having three daughters. And, you know, that was a tough time too, because I wanted to have children. I was 26 when I had Ashley, my oldest. And, you know, I kind of thought, well, you know, I'll probably retire after I have Ashley and you know, go on my merry way. But um my the competitiveness in me was still there. After I had Ashley, I was like, okay, you know, I still want to play, I still need to make a living. I still, you know, I yeah, I'd won a lot of money those first few years, but I still had to make a living. And so when I went back out on tour, um, I she traveled with me. Um, and I had to hire a full-time nanny because we did not have daycare back in those days. We do now, but back in those days we we didn't. And the thing about that was if you didn't couldn't afford a nanny, you pretty much took your your child to um a volunteer's house. Somebody would say, Oh, we've got somebody that can take care of your child. Um, and you're sitting there still not being able to focus because you're not really sure who that person is. You don't know if that person could be abusing your child. You don't know that because you don't don't really know that person. So to be able to focus and play golf, you've got to be there 100%. And so I had to have that full-time nanny. Uh, and fortunately I could afford it because you're, you know, you're paying for three airline tickets. You got 12 pieces of luggage, which they didn't used to charge us for every piece at the in those days. Um, sometimes the tournament gave us cars, but I always get would get the tournament car and I I would rent one because I would want my nanny to take Ashley, you know, on little fun days, take her to the zoo or zoo or something, yeah. So she wasn't just stuck in the in the room all day long or by the or to the pool or something. So as moms trying to have children and compete, we need to have the security of the of the person taking care of our child. And not that every nanny was great for me either. Then I had to worry about that sometimes. But um, but it was something I had to do, and yet I still wanted to compete, and yet I still wanted to have children. Uh, I didn't want golf to be my whole life because I knew when I got older, you know, if I didn't have my children, which I wanted to have children, um, I felt just by analyzing it that I was gonna have a sad life, even though I won trophies and you know met a lot of great people. You know, my three daughters are just the best thing that's happened to me my whole life. And now I have grandchildren and you know, just a lot of things that you feel complete because you can win a lot of golf tournaments, but that's not being complete.

Bruce Devlin 26:32

Yep.

Nancy Lopez 26:32

Um you know, there's a lot of other things in life that help you, you know, get more well-rounded, things like that.

Mike Gonzalez 26:39

Yep, yep. Well, let's take you back to high school, grandma, if we can. Uh Goddard High School. That was a he was a famous guy. Do you remember Robert Goddard?

Nancy Lopez 26:49

Yeah, Robert H. Goddard, he uh invented, I guess I would use the word invented the rocket. Um, and um, I loved high school, it was really fun. Um, I uh at that time I was still playing golf, of course, and getting better and better. Um, but I wanted to play on the boys' golf team. There was not a girls' golf team at that time. And back in those days, the rules about women playing in men's sports was especially in New Mexico, um, they said that I could not play in men's sports because of body contact. And we couldn't figure out how there was body contact in golf.

Bruce Devlin 27:29

Golf.

Nancy Lopez 27:30

Um, so a civil liberties union lawyer, because I was playing on junior varsity, I could play junior varsity, um, but I couldn't play varsity. And a civil liberties union lawyer, Roberta Ramos from Albuquerque, New Mexico, contacted me and and my father and said, you know, do you want to plan the boys' golf team? And and of course, women back then didn't want to rock the boat at all. And I kind of learned that from my mom, and I didn't want to rock the boat, but I said, I said, I would love to plan the boys' golf team, but I I just don't want to cause any issues. And she said, Well, you know, this rule about body contact, that just doesn't make sense. So I'm gonna go to the board of education and talk to them about this ruling and you know, let them know that if you're good enough, because there's not a girls' golf team, if you're good enough, you should be able to play on varsity. And so she took it to the board of education and she said if she couldn't get it passed there, she was gonna take us, take the state of New Mexico to court. Um, well, it passed to through the board of education that if I could qualify to play on the boys' golf team, that I could do that. Um, if there was not a girls' golf team. So that pretty much that rule kind of went for everybody in the in the state of New Mexico.

Mike Gonzalez 28:45

Yeah. And this was all through Title IX, too, wasn't it?

Nancy Lopez 28:47

Uh yeah, and I think the thing was, yeah, it was definitely before Title IX. Um, so I played on the boys' golf team as number four four player. Um, we had a really good golf team, and I really became a better golfer playing with the guys because my dad always told me I was gonna play better and get better if I play with players that were better than I was. Um, so playing on the boys' golf team was great. Um, we went we won state championship one of the years, and some of the guys on the other teams weren't too happy that there was a girl on the golf team. Um but I was probably I was probably hitting it about 245, 250 during those days. Because my longest, I wasn't when I was on tour, I was average 275. But in high school I wasn't quite that long, but because of the way I hit it, so powerful, I felt I felt like when I watched my ball take off, it looked like it was going 300 yards. And I think that the guys, when they would watch me tee off, it was like me playing Laura Davies to me. When I see Laura hit it, it's like she hits it 400 yards. So when I would hit it and they'd see it, they'd step up and swing so hard that they they couldn't control it.

Bruce Devlin 29:59

Mess up. Yeah.

Nancy Lopez 30:00

Instead of just swinging the way they could swing, because they were gonna out hit me. There was no issue about that. But they didn't it didn't look like they were going to. So they didn't really like that there was a girls, a girl on the on the boys' golf team at Goddard High.

Mike Gonzalez 30:14

And they're swinging too hard with the old wooden clubs and the spinny balls, too, right? Yeah. Boy, what a difference!

Nancy Lopez 30:21

Yeah, for sure. So high school was a lot of fun. I I enjoyed those times and being in high school at Goddard and playing on the boys' golf team. Um uh Bill French was my first coach, and then Waldrup was my second coach, or the second coach that was there at uh Goddard High. Um, so you know it was fun playing with the guys, and I know playing with the guys did help my golf game. And it's as a matter of fact, a couple of um the guys are are we still stay in contact with each other. None of them turn professional. Um, but uh there are a couple now that are playing in my charity event, Aim for the Handicap, in in uh the villages, Florida, which is so much fun to see them in the event. So it's fun to go back to my childhood of high school and uh and see friends that I played golf with. And one of the one of the guys played on the other high school team, Roswell High. So it's it's nice to be able to see him and and go back. They've sent pictures, old pictures of all of us, so it's kind of fun to see that too.

Mike Gonzalez 31:22

Well, Bruce, uh just looking at what Nancy accomplished, not just in high school, but even leading up to high school, I mean, she was winning everything.

Bruce Devlin 31:29

Crazy, crazy, yeah. 69, 70, and 71, New Mexico women's amateur champion, 12, 13, and 14 years old. That's uh that's quite a feat, Nancy.

Nancy Lopez 31:43

Well, that was um a lot of fun. I know when I my dad put me in my first uh New Mexico State amateur, I think I was 10. Did not qualify for the championship flight at that time, but um was fun to play in it and of course play with some really good women amateurs. And when I won at age 12, um, it was in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the University South Course, which was a really, to me at that time, a tough golf course. Um if you miss a fairway, it was pretty much rocks and cactus and stuff like that. But I played in that that final um match, it was a 36 whole final uh against Mary Bryan, who eventually didn't got to. She was 22, I believe, and I ended up beating her 9-8 in 36th whole final. Um, and I think I shot, if I can remember, 75 on the front 18, the first 18 before we started back. So that was a pretty good score for that golf course, as tough as it was. And you know, and like I said, I was probably hitting it then like 230 off the T and straight. I was always straight. Like I never really was a wild hitter. And then when I played on tight golf course, I played better. Um, and I I remember we always kind of always we always kind of picked on Joanne Carner that she would play courses that were wide open because she could hit it, but it she didn't know where it was going half the time. She never she didn't care where it went, she was gonna knock on the green from there.

Mike Gonzalez 33:19

Well, you had uh uh quite a few wins. I I guess uh has anybody won more Western Golf Association uh events than you?

Nancy Lopez 33:30

I don't know that answer. Um I love when I Western the Western Junior and the U.S. Junior were won the U.S. Junior twice, yeah, uh never won the U.S. amateur, and never won a US Open, which I finished second four times um in the U.S. Opens. And of course the last one was pretty devastating when I lost to Allison Nicholas um in Portland, Oregon at um God I I will remember the name of the course, but um it was I I had come to a decision in my career at that time, um at least a couple years before that open, that I needed to get in shape to win a US Open. And so I hired a trainer and she we I trained for two years, not knowing what open was gonna fall on that two-year plan that I had. And so um I trained for two years with a trainer, um, got in great shape. Uh just my cardiovascular was awesome. Um, you know, I could walk. Uh I didn't have bad knees back then and and not bad feet too. Um, and just really felt ready for that U.S. Open uh in Oregon and um played really well. And of course I love the golf course. A lot of U.S. Open courses I didn't like. Visually, I didn't like them, and they were kind of boring because I we'd have, I mean, when I was in the press room, I'd start on number one. You know, you you know, Bruce, you had to tell them what you how you did and how many putts. And I'd start most U.S. open courses, I'd go one, two, three, and then I couldn't remember the rest of the golf course.

Bruce Devlin 35:11

And then I forgot to go backwards.

Nancy Lopez 35:15

I don't know what it was about US open courses back in those days, but I just could not remember my shots uh on that same day because the holes were I felt repetitive. So I go to Portland to play there, and um, I I love the course, I love the visual of it. Um, and on the last day, um I am uh two shots behind Allison Nicholas, and I just really didn't think she could beat me. I uh mentally and my golf game was really good, I felt great, I was in great shape, and um, so we were playing on Sunday in the final group, and um I was playing great, and every time I hit a great shot, she hit one better. And um Ed Ed says that she was probably my kryptonite because uh I did beat her in the in the Solheim Cup, but every time I've played with her, like in Legends events and stuff, I've not been able to beat her. So he he calls her my kryptonite, and maybe it that's true, and maybe she just brings her best game when she's playing again.

Bruce Devlin 36:21

Yeah, could be.

Nancy Lopez 36:23

But what was really strange about that open for me, I always feel like the crowd should always root for good play and not show favoritism where they were favoring me a hundred percent. And I think it was a third hole or fourth hole, it was a par five. You couldn't see where the pin was over the bunker um because uh it sat lower than the bunker did. So I remember hitting my third shot, and I hit a great shot, and the crowd went crazy. And you could cut you could kind of tell, oh, that's probably a two-footer. That's how how wild the crowd went. Well, then Allison got up and she hits her shot and she knocks it in because everybody you hear this roar of people, and then they were like, Oh, we shouldn't be roaring for her. She just knocked it in and she's she beat Nancy on this hole. So it was kind of awkward because I felt a little embarrassed that they reacted that way, but it was that way all day long. They they just they did not want to root for her and they wanted to root for me. So we were going into I ended up bogey number 15, a par three, where the pin was was right, and I short-sighted myself and hit my my shot to the right of that, chipped way past the hole, made a bogey. Um, and then I went to number 16 and ended up burning it. So I got back from back the shot from that bogey. And so we're going into number uh eight, 17 with me one shot behind. And I was feeling a lot of pressure. I ended up hooking my T-shot left. I ended up punching it uh into a bunker um in the fairway. And I would have to say that was probably one of my best shots ever out of that bunker. It was about a 70-yard shot, which to me was one of the toughest shots you're gonna hit um to a green under pressure, trying to win US open. And I knocked it up on the green about 10 feet from the pin. And Allison had knocked her shot left of the green, she chipped and um made her putt for par. And I had to make that to be able to go even with her going into 18. And I fell in love with the line. I hit this putt, and of course the grass had been growing all day, and we teed off at one o'clock, so or two o'clock probably. And I left it short, dead in the cup. And of course, just oh my gosh, that just shouldn't have happened, I felt like. Um so we go to 18, which is a par five, you hit your drive over a hazard, and you have to hit a good drive to get your second shot over the next hazard. And so I hit my drive good, didn't catch a second one as the second shot as good as I wanted to, because I thought I could get to the green and I ended up just short of the green. Another tough shot, about a 70-yard shot into a pin, into a green where fast, and I could and and the um the pin was below this little hill on the green. And so if you what happened is when I was chipping that shot, it hit and bounced forward uh because it hit in the wrong spot. But that was probably my toughest shot, the third shot into that green, because the crowd was, and I'm a very emotional player, so the crowd was, you know, yelling and screaming. And so I've got to walk up to the green getting ready for this tough 70-yard shot that I had. Um, and so I'm walking up to the green, and you know, and I'm I want to acknowledge the crowd, but yet not really acknowledge the clock crowd because there was a lot of emotion in that shot, and probably one of the toughest shots I was gonna have to hit in my whole career, because here's a U.S. Open that I think it's gonna be my last U.S. Open that I have a chance to win. So I walked back to my ball, and like I said, I just kind of acknowledged the crowd because I had to really stay focused and I didn't want to get emotional. So I hit that shot, like I said, it hit on the little downslope, which which bound the ball forward more, and I had probably about a 12-footer um to make a birdie because I knew she would have a long putt, and I felt like I was gonna be able to beat her with a birdie if she may, of course, she was gonna make a par. So this putt was about a 12-footer downhill, left to right. Um, and I was so focused, I really felt like I was gonna make that putt. And when I hit it, it almost went in and just pass a hole, but ended up going like five feet past the hole because I was so focused on, you know, the second putt didn't make any difference anymore. It was that first one that I made that was gonna, you know, change it for me into and that I was gonna catch up with her, and we're gonna have a uh 18 hole on Monday. So I missed the putt and I was devastated immediately. Um I shot four sixty nines in that open, and at that time no one had shot. I don't even know if anybody has shot in fourties um and not won a US Open. And so, you know, I I was devastated. I mean, I I feel that emotion now, and I don't want to cry, but yeah, I was so disappointed. And I remember, you know, walking up to Allison and hugging her because I knew it meant a lot to her, but it was so devastating. I didn't think I'd ever cry about that open again. But um I was just so disappointed because I knew it was my last opportunity to win a US Open, which I think every player wants to win a US Open. Um to kind of you know put the icing on the cake of their career. Um, even though the US Open I I would say didn't define my career, but I really wanted to to win it. I'd worked really hard to get there, and I love the golf course. So just the perfect um situation for me to win that US Open. And uh unfortunately I didn't. So for the next, I don't know, five or six months, maybe even the year, the press would ask me about that loss, and I'd cry like I'm crying now because of the disappointment that I felt. Um really, really hard um to have to walk away and know that I would, you know, probably never win a US Open.

Mike Gonzalez 42:59

Yeah. And how much of the disappointment came from just uh looking back and knowing that you had made a real two-year commitment with a lot of hard work to try to make that happen that year at Punkin' Ridge?

Nancy Lopez 43:11

Yeah, I um, you know, I just um just not winning it was just the whole disappointment. All the other stuff that I did um didn't mean anything to me at that moment. It's just about not being able to to win that US Open. Um like I said, it was just a perfect perfect time for me to win it. To win that US Open. Everything was falling into place and and it didn't happen. So I I have to say it just wasn't meant to be uh for me to win the US Open. Um the other ones that I finished second in um I played well, uh came up short. Um didn't really feel the pressure like I did on that last one, on the last US Open. Um I I know Well, y I I know that the first US Open I finished second in was um at Hazeltine. I was playing against Hollis Stacy. And I always say I should have won that US Open because Hollis was a great US Open player. She she could putt on US Open Greens. But we go to that event and I'm playing great and then I we we're in the final match on Sunday and I was wearing a blue outfit, blue slacks, blue top. Of course, we always tucked our clothes in at that time in those years. And I went down to re a putt, like about the third or fourth hole, and my zipper starts to unravel. And um so of course I was like, okay. I stood up and I back then we had these zippers, you could zip it down and zip it back up, and it it fixed itself. Well, this zipper would not stay fixed. So every time I would go down to read a putt, my zipper would start opening up. You know, I'm on on national TV and I know my zipper keeps coming apart. And so now people are wanting to hand me, you know, uh safety pins and I didn't have my rain pants and I wouldn't have put them on. It was so darn hot. And it just it was misery. I could not focus on winning the US Open because I kept worrying about my pants coming undone. And and so I would say that I probably could have won that US Open. I didn't have a pant malfunction or a zipper malfunction, um, which was just you know disappointing too, but kind of funny. Um but I think at that time I felt like there I had a lot of US opens ahead that I could win, so it wasn't as disappointing. Um but uh but it was really an experience that day on Sunday uh where my pants would not stay together.

Mike Gonzalez 45:52

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game.

Intro Music 46:10

So long, everybody whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway, and it started to slice just smidge off line. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My caddy says as long as you're still in the state, you're okay.