Lopez won’t play more next season

THE NUMBERS

Monday, Nov. 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Despite feeling as if she has recaptured some of the magic she had earlier in her stellar career, Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez is not about to increase her playing schedule in 1997.

After a slow start in the ITT LPGA Tour Championship, Lopez posted rounds of 68, 69 and 66 and finished in a tie for second place Sunday at 12-under-par 288. It was Lopez's fifth top-10 finish of the season and fourth in her past seven tournaments.

"I'm going to play probably about 17 tournaments (in 1997)," Lopez said after earning $60,000 Sunday. "I'd like to win a few (tournaments) next year -- I haven't had a win in a long time, but I feel like I'm knocking on the door for that and if I can work on my golf game a little more when I'm home, I think I will certainly have more than a chance to do that."

Lopez said her responsibilities as the mother of three young daughters and wife of Cincinnati Reds manager Ray Knight take precedence over her golfing career.

"I really don't want to play more," Lopez said. "I'd like to play a lot less if I could. With Ray's schedule and him being manager of the Reds, I really don't get to see him very much and our kids basically stay home in Georgia because they go to school there, so we're all just kind of separated and I really don't like that.

"I feel like I've accomplished a lot of things on tour and I don't feel like I have to prove anything anymore. I feel like I just want to play to win to satisfy myself. My family is No. 1 now, not my golf anymore, and my girls are at the age where they really need their mom a lot more ... and I really need to be there and I feel bad when I'm not."

After opening with a 1-over-par 73 in Thursday's round, Lopez posted three straight sub-par rounds and started play Sunday three shots behind third-round leaders Karrie Webb and Emilee Klein. With nine holes remaining, Lopez had pulled to within two shots of the lead.

"I was very excited to play the way that I did this week," Lopez said. "I played real well today and it was a lot of fun to feel like I was going to get out there and play some good golf."

* AND THE WINNER IS...: With the player of the year (Laura Davies) and the rookie of the year (Karrie Webb) already determined prior to the ITT LPGA Tour Championship, the only major awards left to decided over the weekend were the money title and the Vare Trophy for low scoring average. With her victory and $150,000 payday in the LPGA Tour Championship, Webb captured the money title with $1,002,000 and Annika Sorenstam claimed the Vare Trophy with a 70.47 scoring average. Davies had the best scoring average on the LPGA Tour (70.32), but did not qualify for the Vare Trophy because she came up two rounds shy of the 70 rounds required to qualify. Webb finished second in the Vare standings with a 70.87 average and Liselotte Neumann was third at 70.94. Davies finished second in earnings with $927,302 and Sorenstam was third with $808,311.

* MARK YOUR CALENDAR: The 1997 ITT LPGA Tour Championship will be held Nov. 20-23 at the Desert Inn. The purse for next year's event is $750,000 -- a $50,000 increase over this year's purse.

* ODDS AND ENDS: LPGA Tour stars Laura Davies, Annika Sorenstam and Patty Sheehan will remain in Las Vegas for the Wendy's Three-Tour Challenge today and Tuesday at SouthShore Golf Club at Lake Las Vegas. The trio will represent the LPGA Tour against PGA Tour regulars Fred Couples, Davis Love III and Payne Stewart and Senior PGA Tour stars Raymond Floyd, Hale Irwin and Las Vegan Jim Colbert. ... First-round ITT LPGA Tour Championship leader Mayumi Hirase rebounded from rounds of 79 Friday and 73 Saturday and posted a 4-under-par 68 Sunday and finished tied for 16th. Hirase earned $9,500. ... Hall of Famer Sheehan finished the tournament with consecutive 69s and tied for 16th place, earning $9,500. Pat Bradley, another Hall of Fame member, struggled to a 5-over-par 293 and finished tied for 28th and pocketed $5,875.

ote "I feel like I've accomplished a lot of things on tour and I don't feel like I have to prove anything anymore. I feel like I just want to play to win to satisfy myself." Nancy Lopez