Nancy Lopez of Albany, Georgia –
Ms. Lopez started playing golf at age eight and is now
a 48-time winner on the Ladies Professional Golf Association
(LPGA) Tour. Her career began in 1977, and in 1978 she
won nine titles, including a record-setting five in
a row. The next year she took eight more titles and
established the lowest scoring average in LPGA history
– 71.20. Her successes earned her honors as LPGA
Player of the Year in 1978, 1979 and 1985. Ms. Lopez's
greatest professional achievement came in 1987 when,
at age 30, she joined ten of the sport's all-time greats
as the youngest inductee in the LPGA Hall of Fame. Some
of her other awards include being named "Golfer
of the Decade" by GOLF magazine during the 1988
Centennial of Golf in America; being inducted into the
PGA World Hall of Fame in 1989; receiving the Hispanic
Heritage Award in 1998; being inducted into the Georgia
Sports Hall of Fame in 2002; and receiving the First
Lady of Golf Award from the PGA of America in 2002.
In 1998, Ms. Lopez launched the Nancy Lopez Course Design,
and she is the founder and principal of the Nancy Lopez
Golf Company.
