Forty up and still open to new targets

A LEGENDARY figure in women's golf reached a milestone last Monday by celebrating her 40th birthday. And it no longer bothers Nancy Lopez that she is in danger of becoming the female equivalent of Sam Snead, through her failure to win the US Women's Open. In fact she didn't even survive the cut at Pine Needles last June, when Annika Sorenstam retained the title.

"I don't really worry about winning the US Open; I may never win it," said the player who was runner up to Laura Davies in the Du Maurier Classic in Alberta last August. "It wasn't the end of the world when I failed to win the US amateur. Now my attitude is that if these things are going to happen, they will.

Mind you, there have been rich compensations. It took fewer than five seasons on the LPGA Tour for her to become a key figure, a Godsend in its development. Along with Babe Zaharias and Mickey Wright, she remains one of the three most successful women players in the history of the professional game.

While her friendly, outgoing personality stirred the passions of the galleries, Lopez also filled the role of mother to three daughters. Indeed her first daughter, Ashley Marie, was born in 1983 when mother passed the $1 million mark in tournament earnings. She went on to gain entry into golf's Hall of Fame eight months after the birth of Erin Shea in 1986. Torri Heather was born on October 30th 1991.

"I've never felt a career to be more important than a family, and life in general," she said. "I play golf because I enjoy it. The money is great, but you have to be happy outside your golf to succeed. I need to be happy first and then play golf.

"I once told my mother `If I ever marry, he's going to be tall, dark and handsome, a good Christian who doesn't smoke or drink'. Mom said `You'll be looking a long time'." As it happened, sports broadcaster Tim Melton seemed to fit the bill perfectly, but after marrying early in 1979 they were divorced three years later. Yet, by September 1982, she had married Ray Knight - and they're still together.

Lopez won her first tournament, the Bent Tree Classic, in 1977, the season she turned professional. With tears streaming down her face, she dedicated it to her mother who, earlier that year, had died unexpectedly at 54. She then won a stunning nine tournaments the following year, setting an LPGA record of five in a row while tripling gate receipts in the process. She won eight times in 1979 and eventually brought her total of victories to 47 in 1993.

Lopez has never forgot her modest upbringing in Roswell, New Mexico. "I wanted my parents to be proud of me and the only way I could repay them to was to play golf," she said.

"I would like to be remembered as a great competitor - a good winner and a good loser. And I hope people will think of me as a friendly person. Some professional athletes are so tied up with themselves that they forget what got them there. I want to be remembered as a person who appreciated what was done for me.

NONE of us should have been surprised that it happened to be a golfing movie, "Dead Solid Perfect," which was taken off the airways, mid transmission, by RTE last Wednesday afternoon. F words, flying in all directions, brought a stream of protests from irate viewers.

Golf certainly does strange things to people. For instance, a married couple who happen to be friends of mine, verbally abuse each other to such an extent on the golf course that I'm astonished their marriage has survived this long. But the truth is that away from golf, they seem closer than they've ever been.

Dead Solid Perfect was adapted from the book by American writer Dan Jenkins whose latest offering is Fairways & Greens. "Golf can do things to the head," he writes. "But at least you'll be a healthier nut mentally.... After hanging around the game for so many years (I believe) it can actually save lives.

"With my very own eyes, I have watched golf cure drug addiction in people. I have watched golf cure the thirst for alcohol in people. I have watched golf see people through stormy relationships and messy divorces. Somehow, when Martha tells Fred she wants him to clear out the garage today, this works: `Good God, woman, don't you realise I'm supposed to be on the tee at 9.37 this morning with Casey, Jerry and Wally?'

"It works, you see, because golf is healthy. Which is why, when Martha tells Fred they need to go to the mall today to look at light fixtures this doesn't work: `Good God, woman, don't you realise I have to shoot up some heroin and drink a quart of vodka today?'

"I have the notion that if Michael Jackson had every taken up golf, he would never have felt the need to have lunch with orangutans - or ever with Elizabeth Taylor."

BACK in 1991 Butch Harmon realised a lifetime ambition when Steve Elkington recommended him as coach to Greg Norman. He was already fully prepared for the role, having studied Norman's swing for years and meticulously recorded it on videotape. Yet the Shark won $1 million in the Andersen Consulting Championship last Sunday without his help.

In fact Harmon's great rival, David Leadbetter, has been guiding the player's fortunes over the last six months. "Greg and Butch had a minor disagreement," the Shark's manager, Frank Williams, explained to me this week. "David, who helps only when he's called upon, has advised a return to Greg's more upright swing, which puts less strain on the back."

Harmon, who claims he charges the same $200 an hour rate to clients such as Tiger Woods as he does to members at his club in Houston, maintains there is no rivalry between himself and Leadbetter. "I have learned a lot from him and I admire the way he made the golfing world aware that good quality instruction costs money," said Harmon.

"I would say David is more position orientated than I am - `get the club here, do this, do that.' He has been extremely successful with the position by position method. I actually think our feelings on the mechanics of the golf swing are one and the same.

Which would explain Norman's move. But what if the Shark were to find himself in another crucial head to head with Nick Faldo, like at Augusta last April? I don't think we need wonder where Leadbetter's allegiance would lie.

THOSE of us who attended the Walker Cup matches at Hoylake in 1983 greatly admired the leadership skills of the British and Irish skipper, Charlie Green, especially when he promoted Philip Walton to number one on the second day. There were others who felt that despite his 51 years, Green would have been an asset to the side as a player.

Whatever about his qualities as a captain, the redoubtable Scot has clearly retained remarkable playing skills. That much was evident from a recent match at Kirkintilloch where he represented Dunbartonshire. "I had actually retired from county golf, but they called me back for this match," he said.

It was an astute decision. The 64 year old co ordinator of golf at Loch Lomond, where he plays off plus one, actually beat his age by returning a marvellous 63. Which would have come as no surprise to his many golfing friends given that he has held a handicap of no worse than scratch for the last 40 years.

IN BRIEF: A beautifully produced calendar, Emerald Gems, which highlights the celebrated links terrain of such as Lahinch, Tralee, Royal Co Down and The European Club, is available from Michael J Burke at (091) 794500.... Brendan Cooling, general secretary of the Hibernian GC, based at Citywest, informs me that they are open for membership at an annual subscription of £257. Further details from (01) 8510565.

Teaser: A player whose ball is on the lip of the hole, putts with one hand and catches the ball with his other hand after the ball is below the level of the lip of the hole. What is the ruling?

Answer: The player purposely stopped his moving ball. In matchplay he lost the hole (Rule 1-2). In strokeplay, he incurred a penalty of two strokes and as required to place his ball on the lip of the hole and hole out (Rule 1-2). If he did not do so, he was disqualified under Rule 3-2 for failing to hole out. In order for a ball to be holed, it must be at rest within the circumference of the hole.