Lopez Is Expecting to Play at Los Coyotes in ’92 : LPGA: Hall-of-Fame golfer, pregnant with her third child, sat out this tournament after winning it the past two years.

A chip shot away, on a patch of green bordering Lopez Lane, golfers plotted their strategies for the third round of the MBS LPGA tournament.

If Nancy Lopez wished she were practicing with them on the street named in her honor at Los Coyotes Country Club, it wasn’t evident Saturday. But the more time she spent on the grounds, the more wistful she seemed that she wasn’t playing for her third consecutive title at the $350,000 event.

“When I’m not around it, I really don’t miss it. Now that I’m here, I definitely miss it,” said Lopez, who is expecting her third child in about a month. “I really enjoy playing this course. I’d probably still be playing if it wasn’t so hot. The hot weather drove me away.”

Still putting occasionally, although with a shorter putter to accommodate her temporary bulk, Lopez hopes to resume playing in January when the 1992 schedule opens in Florida. She hopes to play 13 or 14 tournaments, probably with baby in tow and possibly with her entire brood.

“I know I’m going to play most of the summer,” she said. “I told Don (Stieler, general chairman MBS LPGA tournament) if it’s not a boy we’re going to try again. Please, God, let it be a boy. I told Don we planned around the tournament so I can play here next year and then try again.

“Usually after I have a baby I wait a month and a half. After my first daughter, I came back too soon. After my second, I waited a little longer,” said Lopez, mother of Ashley, 9, and Erinn, 5. “I’ll probably pick up a club about a month after I have this one. . . . I’m a little bit older now, so I don’t know. The other times, when I came back, it was like I wasn’t gone.”

The LPGA is strong enough to withstand her absence, although Lopez remains one of its most recognizable faces. Lopez, 34, has been named player of the year four times, most recently in 1988, and she ranks fourth in career earnings at $3,180,242 behind Pat Bradley, Beth Daniel and Betsy King. She won one of 11 tournaments she entered this year, the Sara Lee Classic in Tennessee in May, and finished second in February at the Phar-Mor at Inverrary in Florida.

In her career, Lopez has seen a phenomenal growth in the players’ skills and in the money they’re playing for. Twenty-three women have recorded victories in 31 events this year, and purses are worth an average of $496,622. That’s light years from the $82,857 average in Lopez’s rookie year of 1977.

“There’s definitely more talent out there. Any player can win a tournament now,” Lopez said. “The players have become more confident on the course, not only the veteran players, but it’s a lot of one- and two-year players who are playing confidently and well. You can see it in the last year, when we’ve seen so many different winners.”

Lopez’s daughters have shown athletic talent, which is no surprise. Not only is Lopez a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, but her husband, Ray Knight, was a former major league third baseman who is now a commentator for ESPN. Despite their success, Lopez hopes her children choose professions that offer more security.

“Any profession is tough. There’s a lot of lonely times out there,” she said. “If I had to choose a profession, I wouldn’t chose professional sports. Girl or boy. I’d look for consistency. I’d like them to be a doctor or a lawyer, where it’s not going to be where if you perform, you make money and if you don’t, you don’t.

“I’m fortunate I’ve done well, but it’s a tough life. I’ve seen other girls struggle. I’d hate to see my girls go through that.”

Lopez was hesitant to predict who would succeed her as the champion of this event. “Lisa Walters is playing very well, Pat Bradley and Amy Alcott I’m sure would like to win the tournament very much, because they would get into the Hall of Fame and they both like this course,” said Lopez, who qualified for the hall in 1987.

“The course is in better shape than I’ve seen it. I’ve always liked it. There’s a few easy holes, a lot of tough ones. It’s just how you’re feeling that day, your biorhythms that day. It’s the type of course that will reach out and grab you if you let it.”