WEST POINT — The smile is still there.
Nancy Lopez can’t help but flash her still white teeth to offer proof that her father’s decision that she wear braces for five years was the right one. The smile her parents, Domingo and Maria, worked so hard to pay for became one of Lopez’s trademarks at an early age. Ever since Lopez graced the cover of Sports Illustrated on July 10, 1978, she has been one of the most recognizable faces in professional golf. She was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame in 1987 and the PGA World Golf Hall of Fame in 1989.
Lopez likely will have her game face on this weekend, when she will captain the U.S. team in the ISPS Handa Cup at Old Waverly Golf Club.
The Handa Cup is an international team competition featuring 12 U.S.-born LPGA Legends against 12 internationally born LPGA Legends. It has been played in the U.S. since 2006. Lopez’s U.S. team will look to reclaim the Handa Cup after losing it to the World team for the first time in 2013.
Lopez said she won’t play Saturday and Sunday unless she really has to.
She said the individuals on her team are playing better than she is right now, but that doesn’t mean Lopez won’t be into the action and showing a competitiveness that helped make her one of the best golfers in the world.
It also doesn’t mean Lopez won’t flash that trademark smile — the one she uses to draw people in at golf courses, at charity events, and just about everywhere.
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“My dad had a lot of friends,” Lopez said. “Watching him and seeing how friendly he was, I am sure I learned a lot of it from my dad. I always joke that I smile a lot because he spent a lot of money on these teeth.”
Domingo Lopez, who worked in an auto body repair shop, believed golf would be in Nancy’s future. That’s why Nancy said Domingo was so keen on her wearing braces for so long to help ensure she had a beautiful smile to show off. Lopez set out on that course when she was 12 years old and won the New Mexico Women’s Amateur. When she was 15, Lopez won the U.S. Girls Junior. She turned professional in 1977 and won nine tournaments in 1978, her first full season, including five events in a row at one point. She capped her season by earning LPGA Rookie of the Year, LPGA Player of the Year, and The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year honors.
The winning didn’t stop. Lopez won eight more tournaments in 1979, and won multiple times from 1980-84. She said he chance to captain the 2005 Solheim Cup in which she helped the U.S. beat Europe 15 1/2 to 12 1/2 as the biggest achievement in her career.
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These days, Lopez stays busy playing golf and even more time working for charitable causes. She gives back to Adventures in Movement (AIM), the March of Dimes, the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. She said being a professional golfer made it easier for her to get involved with charities, but she said she likely would have found a way to help others even if she didn’t golf because it is the right thing to do.
Lopez, who was the first Mexican-American woman on the LPGA Tour, credits her parents for helping show her the right way to do things, even if she feels the competitive spirit that helped her be so successful was already in her.
“I think a lot of that is in you. I don’t think you learn to be competitive,” said Lopez, who worked at her father’s auto body repair shop in the summer.
“You learn that you have drive. I know being competitive for me probably came a little but from my mom, even though I feel like God gave me some talent. My mom wanted me to do things right, and I think from the day I knew what she was telling me I was taught to do things right.”
But Lopez, 57, said golf and competition never consumed her, which helped her keep her balance on and off the course. She said she tried to impart the same lessons to her three daughters, even if none of them followed in her footsteps and took up the game of golf.
“The balance I had in my life was when I was growing up (in Roswell, New Mexico) we didn’t have a lot of money in I saw how hard my dad worked. I think from that I learned I ned to work hard to accomplish or get further in life,” said Lopez, who will have stem cell surgery on her left knee in November to see if it can delay her needing a knee replacement. “Being Hispanic was an issue growing up, too. There was a little bit of prejudice. My dad was never, ‘Poor us’ or, ‘We’re Hispanic and they treated us that way because of that.’ He never said that. He always told me no matter what color your skin is, if you have a good heart people will see that.”
Now that she is a grandmother, Lopez said she plans to teach her daughter Ashley’s daughter, Molly, how to play the game. She doesn’t know how that will go, or if Molly will appreciate the fun someone can have walking the course and taking in the beautiful sights and sounds. But Lopez will approach those lessons with an energy and a smile on her face that helped her leave an indelible mark on the game — and the lives of fans throughout the world.
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This weekend, she will get a chance to extend her fanbase into the state of Mississippi.
“You’re successful in all that you do, but you’re successful when you help other people,” Lopez said. “I love people. I love my fans. It was amazing for me to watch Arnold (Palmer) when they did the two-night piece on him during The Masters and how emotional he got when he was talking about his fans. I feel the same way. He never really said it before, how much his fans meant to him, even though I knew it because I have been with him a lot doing things. When he said it, he started tearing up, and I do that, too…Your fans are really all you have out there.”
Lopez said connecting with people — on and off the course — is what it is all about.
“I will walk though the airport and count how many people will smile back at me when I smile at them because they are walking by me and they have this really droopy face and they look like they’re really miserable,” she said. “I will smile at them and say, ‘Hi.’ They are almost shocked and they go, ‘Hi.’ I do it as a game to see how many miserable people I can make smile. People get shocked when you smile and say hi to them. That is what we should all do.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Schedule
Today: Practice rounds for players and ProAm participants, and pairings party/opening ceremony
Friday: Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi ProAm
Saturday: Match One — Alternate Shot, 9 a.m.; Match Two — Best Ball, 1 p.m.
Sunday: Match Three — Singles, 9 a.m.; Closing Ceremony, Trophy Presentation
About the Handa Cup
The ISPS Handa Cup is an international team competition featuring 12 United Statesborn LPGA Legends versus 12 internationally-born LPGA Legends. It has been played in the U.S. since 2006.
Team USA won the first six meetings, retained the Cup with a 24-24 tie and lost to the World for the first time in 2013.
Tickets
Tickets are required for Saturday and Sunday. You can purchase tickets by going to The Legends Tour web site, which is www.thelegendstour.com. A daily patron pass is available for $10 a day and a daily clubhouse pass for $25 a day. There will be free admission for kids 10 and under and active military personnel with identification. Tickets purchased online will be available at Will Call on tournament day. Fans should print and bring their emailed receipt to redeem their tickets. Identification is required.
For more information, call Old Waverly Golf Club at 6624946463.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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