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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1978)
Page 8 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1978 Nancy Lopez: She knew it had to en By MILTON RICKMAN United Press International NEW YORK — A couple of weeks back, when she was playing so spectacularly that she not only was breaking par but all the laws of nature, Nancy Lopez was asked a question she could’ve easily ig nored, but didn’t. She had just won her fourth tour nament in a row, the $150,000 Ladies Professional Golf Association championship at Kings Island, Ohio, only one short of the women’s record as well as the money record for either a male or female profes sional rookie, and someone wanted to know if she thought she was un beatable. “No,” she responded, with that warm, natural smile of hers that has a way of making everyone who sees it feel immediately better, “but I d like to win everything if I could. ” Saying that, winsome, 21-year- old Nancy Lopez realized she was merely indulging in some wishful thinking, talking more with her heart than with her head, yet she blithely moved along to the next stop on the women’s tour, which was Rochester, and won there also, making it five straight and smashing both records. Somewhere, sometime, she knew it all had to come to an end, and it did Sunday at Hershey, Pa., where Lopez didn’t look anything at all like the same relaxed, carefree young girl in finishing 15 strokes behind the winner, Pat Bradley. What happened? Nothing really. Nancy Lopez simply was worn out. Mentally more than physically. She had given too much of herself accommodating autograph seekers, members of the media, practically everyone who came up to talk with her, and all that finally took its toll on her nerves and on her game. She showed that during the tour nament the past few days when she admitted her concentration wasn’t what it should’ve been because she was thinking about interviews in stead of her golf game. Eventually, it got to be too much for her. Lopez was scheduled to be on the Today show Tuesday but said no. “It’s ridiculous to be running around all the time,” she said. “I want to play golf. I don’t want to be running all over the United States.’’ Well-wishers also took something out of Lopez, primarily because she didn t want it to look as if she were snubbing anyone. People mean to be supportive when they flock around an accomplisher to shower her or him with adulation but they generate a kind of pressure they’re not even aware of. Lopez had no alibis fori;L ing when she came intoll VOl. tent Sunday. She had finis® 8 Pc a 5-over-par 221 to under 206 but was stil "Do you have any say?” an LPGA official is^ “I’m going to dye myli next week so they won’t n me,’ she said. INTRODUCING THE NEW 2-LITER PLASTIC BOTTLE. WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU? THERE’S A LOT IN IT FOR YOU. FOR ME, MORE 0FTHE SAME GREAT TASTE! 99 It keeps Coke tasting like Coke... and that’s terrific. “criCTruij" jnu uim; ,m; u,iijihiuit j mrnin? imjim, winui luuiiiiiy-mi'' viiiih umum 11 Eli] tlin (St Minor pig n 197! I ier n irmsti ints f » car |ion a [eteri l rest I “W, fill rmsl rou; iver, cleric 'adei mpi The jus ateg ( Cle uinin 'equi; nust bat t *>nsi< irese Sec fre pi or o Uust itdlls ?erie ition Sei S3.61 exce ally s type short siv e five \ appli me- orri.T c;niiip:)ny mniivai uiiUui Hieaniliunfy of fl7Ert3uc.a-Uul,i Wnnu'inriy'l'iy BHVA'l l 1''Ul)UA"UULA Bryan, ruxag