Nancy Lopez, without question, has been the dominant player on the LPGA Tour in the last decade. During that time, she has won more tournaments (39 and counting) and more money ($2,200,000 – plus and counting) than any other player on the tour.

During that period, she has also been through two marriages- the second to major league baseball player Ray Knight – and a divorce and has given birth to two girls. She has won consistently despite taking off due to pregnancy. This past year, she became a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, the most elite hall in the sportsdom because of the criteria of selection (Honorees must win at least 35 tournaments and at least one major, or 40 tournaments exclusive of a major).

But through the hills and the valleys, she has remained essentially the same person she was when she first came on the tour, an unspoiled, unselfish, highly dedicated and motivated individual – a lady in the ultimate sense, sensitive and feminine. Yet she is enthusiastically competitive and has adroitly handled the delicate balance between wife, motherhood and fame.

The following is a candid conversation with Nancy Lopez about her life on and off the course.

I’m definitely a goal-setter. It motivates me to try to set up goals and to try to reach them. I think I’ve done pretty well so far. One of my first goals was to reach $100,000 in earnings in a year. When I won the four tournaments in a row, I wanted five. I wanted to set a scoring record for the season. And when I realized I had a chance to get into the Hall of Fame, I wanted that. Obviously, I also would like to win an Open. I’ve had my chances. I would like to win one before I quit.

The time when I won my fifth tournament in a row (at the Bankers Trust Classic in 1978, her first full season). I was trying to beat the record of four in a row, so there was a lot of pressure on me. I also hit a man in the head in that tournament. I honestly thought about quitting, because I thought I had killed him.

Many of the golf courses being built today are putting a premium on length. Thus, it makes it more difficult for the higher handicap player. What is your opinion of the newer courses?

It does seem that most of the courses are built with the pro player in mind. They forget who supports golf. While I like to play the tough courses, if I built a golf course, I’d build one where pros and amateurs would enjoy it, where there were plenty of bail-out areas for the amateurs who don’t get to play very much. I think it makes more sense to build a course that is more suitable for the amateurs – those with higher handicaps – than pros. There are just so many more players out there who are higher handicappers. I’ve seen so many courses lately where the architect doesn’t seem to take this into consideration and I think it’s wrong. Golf’s supposed to be a fun game, but it’s not too much fun if you’re always in trouble.

You talked about being a goal-oriented person. After that first year, which may very well have been the greatest rookie season in professional sports, was there pressure on you to continue to play at that level?

Yes, there was. I had such a good first year, making the cover of Sports Illustrated and all, and then I started to hear the stuff about a sophomore slump and the jinx of being on the cover of the magazine. I said that it wasn’t going to happen to me.

It was mentioned somewhere that I might be a flash-in-the-pan. I was determined to prove that I wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan and that I wasn’t jinxed by Sports Illustrated. I think I proved both. There was probably more pressure from myself than anyone else.

For being a good competitor; as being one of the greatest players in the history of the game, but also one of the friendliest. Watching pro athletes over the years, I’ve seen where some of them have not been so nice. That disturbed me as I was growing up and it still disturbs me. I want to be remembered by those who watch me play as a nice person.

You recently attended a Detroit-Boston series in Boston to watch Ray play. Is this common? What creative ways do the two of you have to intermesh your schedules?

I don’t go on many road trips during the season. When I was pregnant, I did. Otherwise, when he’s traveling, we’re (Nancy and her daughters) traveling.

My scheduled changed because I decided not to play Atlantic City. The Boston trip was a time for us to be by ourselves, which is something we don’t get to do too often. We feel guilty leaving our children, but we have a great nanny, someone to love them while we’re gone. Still, it’s very hard to leave my kids. I didn’t stay for the whole series.

Ray had a day off during that series and we went shopping and talked all day. It seemed like we never have enough time to talk; we’re always getting interrupted. We didn’t get interrupted there and it was great.

Our schedules are difficult. We end up sliding around a lot. For instance, Ray might come in on a one-day-off situation, fly in and fly right back out. I haven’t had much of a chance this year to see him at all. This has been the worst year for us, and it’s hard. I dread being away for so long, and not seeing him, but he understands. Because of the year I’m having, trying to be No. 1 (on the money list). I’ve got to play for five weeks in a row.