DAYTONA BEACH – “Uno mas. One more hole,” Gaby Lopez reminded her playing partners as she pulled off her Razorback head cover on their final hole of the day. She made her way to the teeing ground and then stopped.
She didn’t have the honors.
Lopez apologized profusely and Briana Mao hit away.
She was in the zone.
The Arkansas senior was coming off two birdies in her last four holes and would go on to make her seventh birdie of the day at the par 5, 9th hole, her final hole of the day, having started on the back nine of the Jones Course at LPGA International. She posted a 68 on day one of the final stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament to sit three-strokes back of the lead at day’s end.
“I feel calm, you know,” Lopez told LPGA.com. “I don’t feel nervous that I’m two back or I just don’t think about the score because at the end of the day, I know it’s going to turn out good.”
Lopez exudes confidence. She’s clearly comfortable in this position, but grounded. The amateur is ready for what lies ahead for her with a successful performance this week and with nine starts on the LPGA Tour, feels equipped to meet the challenge.
“I just really think that my best is good enough to compete here and I feel prepared, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
And she has support.
With well noted mentors in fellow countrywoman Lorena Ochoa and former Arkansas Razorback Stacy Lewis, who serves as one of the team’s assistants, Lopez has learned from the best in knowing what it takes to succeed at the game’s highest level.
With her every step of the way this week is her instructor of three years, Horacio Morales. He’s on the bag for Lopez just as he’s been at all her major events, including the Lorena Ochoa Invitational and Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Morales is her 15th club, providing her with the one thing she needs more than anything to play well.
Laughter.
“We know pretty well each other in the bag, so he knows that the only thing I want to do out there is just having fun, and he makes me laugh so much that’s how I enjoyed it. That’s the only key, he knows that. So sometimes when we make a bogey, sometimes it’s hard to bring that laugh, the laughter out, so you know he’s done a great job.”
The laughter keeps Lopez in the moment, which is something her entire team stays focused on during these intense weeks.
“She is confident with me, we have a connection,” Morales told LPGA.com. “I believe we are in the present and think shot for shot because in the future when you think in the future, I believe it’s a stress for everybody. So all the family, all the people around her are in the present and enjoy it and play the better you can, that’s all.”
Family and friends have made the trip from Mexico and Arkansas to support her this week. Her mother Gabriela walked along, bursting with pride as she watched her daughter. She couldn’t contain her excitement as Lopez made birdie at the last, crying out for joy and clapping for her daughter. This journey has been one they have shared together.
“It’s kind of a stress, I mean nervous, because I want the best for my daughter and all she made to get here,” Gabriela told LPGA.com. “So, just her to be healthy and safe and happy and to enjoy the tournament.”
When it comes to motherly advice, it’s a song that Gabriela uses to express her feelings, singing a Mexican song to her daughter before each major event. And the events she can’t attend? She makes sure to post the song to her daughter’s Facebook page.
“If it’s her dream, it’s going to be my dream too,” Gabriela said as her voice began to quiver. “Because it’s her passion and she wants this dream.”
Her “Arkansas mother” as Gabriela has dubbed her, Cynthia McClanahan who lives on the home course of the university’s golf team, made the trip to support Gaby this week as well. McClanahan met Lopez four years ago when she was a freshman at Arkansas and traveled to Mexico in November to watch her play in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
“She’s such a great, wonderful human being,” McClanahan told LPGA.com, excited for what Saturday could hold for Lopez should she secure her card for next season. “Oh gosh, well, we would have a lot of champagne, it would be a very nice feeling indeed. It’s her passion, it’s her dream. She really wants it and of course we really want it for her.”
This week Lopez wears a simple gold necklace, a medallion of a Catholic saint her mother gave her for this week’s tournament.
“It’s just a little gold. In Mexico, it’s a saint, so it’s to keep the bad out and just let the good in.”
Good things lie ahead for Lopez, and she’s ready.
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