Nancy Lopez

As Lopez moved through the 1990s, age, injuries, and shifting responsibilities began impacting her game. After winning one tournament in 1993, Lopez did not finish first again until 1997, when she posted her forty-eighth, and last, career win at the Chick-fil-A Charity Championships. One of the most celebrated women in golf, Lopez never won a U.S. Open championship, although she finished second four times in her twenty-one appearances. In 1997 she missed a fifteen-foot birdie putt on the eighteenth green in the final round and lost by one stroke to Alison Nicholas, despite being the only woman to break 70 in all four rounds, posting scores of 69-68-69-69.

Lopez underwent knee surgery in 1999 and gall bladder surgery in 2000, which limited her play through the next several years. During 2002 she failed to make a single cut. With nagging knee problems and three growing daughters at home, Lopez retired after the 2002 season. She ended her career as a perennial fan favorite, with forty-eight tournament wins and over $5 million in earnings. Lopez has been credited for the increased popularity of the LPGA, which has resulted in an astonishing increase in purses. In 1978 Lopez was awarded $22,500 for her LPGA Championship victory. Twenty years later, first place netted $195,000—approximately what Lopez made during her entire nine-win rookie year. Lopez and her family live in Albany, Georgia, her husband's hometown.