Nancy is the darling who won the New Mexico Women’s Amateur at age 12 and, as a junior, almost won the U.S. Open in 1975.
She has an electrified, All-American smile and a most charming personality.
She joined the LPGA in the 1977 and did nearly as much to make that tour grow as Arnold Palmer did for the men’s tour in the 1960s.
Nancy is a Hall of Fame player, inducted in 1987. She won three LPGA Championship titles, the last in 1989. She has won 48 times on the LPGA tour.
The most amazing thing about her victory count is that she won nine times in 1978 and eight times in 1979. Nancy did all this with a homemade swing (also a la Palmer). She was dominant from the start and always a superstar when the LPGA needed one very, very badly.
But Nancy has not won the U.S. Open. She’s finished second (or tied for second) three times, including her “coming-out” Open in 1975 and as recently as 1997.
A mother of three, Lopez belongs on everyone’s list of top women players of all time.
Now comes the hard part.
Nancy did not qualify for the U.S. Open, although she tried to do so in Atlanta. At that site, earlier in May, she needed to shoot 74 to get into a play-off for the last spots. Paired with two competitors who did not break 85, Nancy shot 78.
So she went home for the week. This particular story might not be so controversial were it not for the fact that the USGA Women’s Committee gave a special exemption to Liselotte Neumann, who won the 1988 title.
There can’t be anything special about a 13th anniversary except for the fact that a player is exempt from qualifying for an Open for 10 years after she wins the title. Liselotte’s ran out, she had no other way to get into the Women’s Open as an exempt player, and the USGA extended a special invitation to her.
No one wants to argue about Liselotte’s exemption except for the fact that Nancy Lopez didn’t get it.
But there’s more to this history. Nancy received special exemptions in 1999 and 2000. The USGA Women’s Committee feared three in a row might be too many, no matter how good the name.
The problem here, if one stands back for a second and looks carefully, is that the USGA has this special exemption category.
The U.S. Women’s Open is intended to define the best player at this time, the year 2001. The USGA has a fine way of allowing players to exempt themselves by winning tournaments, championships or money and by qualifying.
The USGA messes up by giving special exemptions, on occasion, to someone who hasn’t exempted herself in any other way. This special pass usually goes to a player whose career peak was a few years back. The Women’s Committee has issued 42 such passes since 1977.
The U.S. Women’s Open is not a Hall of Fame Review. It’s today’s championship — for today’s best player.
The USGA’s problem is not that Nancy Lopez was passed over for a special exemption. The problem is the USGA should not give special exemptions under the “Open” format.
