Gaby Lopez backed up behind the tee markers a smidge on the seventh playoff hole at the season-opening Tournament of Champions two years ago at Tranquilo Golf Course, striking a solid 3-hybrid exactly as she’d drawn it up in her mind on the 197-year par-3 18th. It was chilly that morning and the conditions played to her favor as Lopez poured in a 25-foot birdie putt to claim her second LPGA title.
Compatriot Lorena Ochoa, a World Golf Hall of Famer, mentor and friend, has talked to Lopez about the importance of linking nerves with positive emotion.
“There are a couple little secrets,” said Lopez, “but probably one of them is being very brave and positive out on the golf course when you are in such a pressure situation.”
Lorena Ochoa of Mexico tosses her ball marker on the 16th green during her second round match at the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship at Hamilton Farm Golf Club on July 7, 2006.
Ochoa, who won 27 times on the LPGA from 2004 to 2009, told Lopez the more nerves she felt, the better she played. Lopez has tried to copy that mindset.
“When you see Jin Young Ko, you see Nelly (Korda), you see all the top players are really embracing the moment,” said Lopez, “and for me it has been just linking a very good situation for me in the past with what I’m presenting in the moment.”
While the name and venue are different at this week’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, Lopez can still draw on many of the intangibles from her victory two years ago. She likes to journal, and when she looks back on that week she remembers feeling very certain of her decisions in the heat of battle.
“When you’re under pressure, you hit it where you want to hit it instead of what you want to avoid,” said Lopez.
“It’s really easy to say, but when you’re in the moment and you have the wind and you have the lie that’s uncomfortable, being able to refocus and get yourself very centered to say, ‘Hey, that is exactly what I want to do,’ when you do it and it happens, it just brings so much inner fears and inner force that it just makes you much stronger.”
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