Nancy Lopez's 1983 J&B Scotch Pro-Am Desert Inn & Country Club Las Vegas, NV Champion Trophy
History would be made and this very trophy would be awarded Nancy Lopez, pregnant en route to victory! Few storylines in golf are more compelling than that of Lopez and the 1983 J&B Scotch Pro-Am Desert Inn. Lopez's 27th of a remarkable 48 LPGA victories was captured while the WGHOFer was two months pregnant with her first daughter Ashley! Unsurprisingly it marked the first known variety of triumph in an LPGA tournament. Showcased in this lot is the winner's prize that was presented to the deserving and unflappable champion Lopez - the single tangible artifact that represents overcoming adversity with unprecedented athletic prowess that week.
Everything was going the 26-year-old Nancy Lopez's way in April of 1983. Lopez returned to the J&B Scotch Pro-Am as the defending champion and as only the fifth LPGA golfer to earn $1 million in tour winnings. That's a lot of diapers; especially 40 years ago. A cumulative 283, 6-under par gave Lopez a single stroke victory over Laura Baugh and a week that was larger than the game of golf. Nancy Lopez would win again while pregnant at the 1991 Sara Lee Classic, this time 5 months with her third child Torri. From champion Lopez's personal collection comes this significant hardware, poised for preservation and exhibition by the winning bidder and new custodian of this historical artifact. 39" x 9" A signed letter of provenance from Nancy Lopez comes with this lot.
Nancy Lopez Collection
It didn't take long for Nancy Lopez to be crowned golf's 'It' girl after winning the 1972 US Girls' Junior tournament. The bright smile and infectious charisma would be seen over the next two decades all over the media, winning on the LPGA each year from 1978 until 1993 - with the lone exception of 1986 after having her second of three children and playing a limited schedule. A World Golf Hall of Famer in 1987, the 48-time LPGA champion notched three major championships at the Women's PGA (1978, 1985, and 1989). Sports Illustrated called and Lopez answered with the smiling, youthful golf sensation 1978 cover subject titled 'The Name of the Game.' “It got to the point where the sponsors didn't want to have a tournament unless Lopez played,” said seven-time LPGA leading money winner Kathy Whitworth in an interview.
The first LPGA Rookie of the Year in 1978, Lopez would win AP Female athlete of the year then and in 1985 and the LPGA Tour Player of the Year four times over. Lopez was the first to win a tournament while pregnant at the 1983 J&B Scotch Pro-Am Desert Inn Tournament channeling her grit, determination and unwavering competitive spirit. “I just want to win,” she told her father as a junior golfer. “I just want to win.” And that she did. With unlimited self-drive Nancy Lopez was the perfect ambassador of the game. Deserving recipient of the USGA's Bob Jones Award in 1998, Lopez long ago shifted her attention to helping others impacting the game as a top philanthropist and host of Nancy Lopez Hospice Golf Classic starting in 1986 and another in The Villages, FL to bring awareness to and benefit children and adults with special needs. Without further adieu we humbly present The Nancy Lopez Collection.
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