The Sidelines : Daniel AP’s Top Female Athlete

Beth Daniel, the LPGA’s leading money winner last year with $863,578, today was named The Associated Press’ 1990 Female Athlete of the Year.

Daniel, 34, who won the LPGA’s Vare Trophy for the second consecutive year with a low stroke average of 70.54, is the ninth golfer to win the honor since it was initiated in 1931.

She received 28 first-place votes and a total of 198 points in balloting by a national panel of AP-member sports writers and broadcasters.

Tennis player Jennifer Capriati, the teen-age sensation who made her professional debut last year, was second in the balloting with 21 first-place votes and 184 points. She was followed by tennis players Steffi Graf, the 1989 Female Athlete of the Year who received 17 first-place votes and 142 points, and Monica Seles, with seven firsts and 110 points.

Daniel, who nearly quit the tour in 1989 because she was frustrated at not winning, won seven tournaments in 1990, including her first major, the LPGA Championship.