Arabella Lopez says she is not a relative of Nancy Lopez, one of the greats in women’s golf. But maybe the ancestry roots should be inspected a little more because they are linked by a milestone, as well as by name, on the golf course.
Arabella, 13, became the youngest winner of the Connecticut Women’s Amateur this summer. At age 12 in 1969, Nancy Lopez won the first of three consecutive New Mexico Women’s Amateurs. She is believed to be the youngest winner of a women’s state amateur championship in the United States.
The only time Arabella met Nancy – a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and winner of 48 LPGA tournaments – was last year when she hit the ceremonial first drive at the Cognizant Founders Cup in Clifton, New Jersey. “She’s a legend,” Arabella said.
Like the elder Lopez, who was an All-American at the University of Tulsa, Arabella wants to play college golf. “And if I’m good enough, then to play on the LPGA Tour and to be one of the best,” Arabella said.
Is that too ambitious? Perhaps. But you cannot dismiss her aspirations as unattainable, especially if you examine her early success and dedication to golf.
An example of the latter is when asked how often she was on a course, practice range or in her home bunker and/or used a golf simulator, Lopez laughed and said, “probably 360 days a year.” As for her home bunker, four years ago her father, Luis, had a bunker built, using a neighbor’s backhoe, in their yard in Ridgefield, Connecticut. To make bunker shots more challenging, Lopez said she stacks some empty cardboard boxes to construct a higher lip.
“I’m proud of how well she treats other players, her respect for the game and work ethic,” her father said. “She understands to get to the highest level it must be earned.”
Arabella witnessed dedicated toil in June when she attended the Travelers Championship, a designated PGA Tour event in 2023, in Cromwell, Connecticut.
“After the round, I went back to the practice range, and I noticed players there, still working to improve, after they had shot 5-under,” she said.
“I love it when I can beat the older kids, make them blink. When you walk on the tee and they look at you, well, they think they’re going to beat you. There’s no pressure on me; I’m supposed to be the underdog.”
Arabella Lopez
Lopez strives to be the best golfer she can be, and is off to an impressive start. Consider these rankings: she is No. 1 in the Connecticut State Golf Association women’s player-of-the-year race; No. 1 in New England and seventh nationally in the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour National Division; No. 1 in Connecticut in the Titleist Junior Golf Scoreboard; and No. 1 for her age and second overall in Connecticut in the American Junior Golf Association standings.
In just over a year, Lopez finished first in the New England Junior Amateur at Manchester (Vermont) Country Club (August 2022), the MET PGA Future Series at Beekman Golf Course in Hopewell Junction, New York (October 2022), the AJGA Preview at Bethpage State Park Yellow Course in Farmingdale, New York (May 2023) and the Connecticut Women’s Amateur at Tashua Knolls Golf Course in Trumbull (July 17-18, 2023).
Her AJGA victory was memorable because of her final-round performance. She recorded four birdies on her last nine to tie for medalist honors with an overall 3-under-par 68. Her two-day 142 gave her a one-shot victory over Zixin Lou.
“Winning an AJGA event is hard,” Lopez said. “I was proud of how I played against a very strong field.”
After finishing third in the Connecticut Junior Amateur behind Annie Dai and Aoife Devaney at Fairview Farm Golf Course in Harwinton (July 11-12), Arabella stepped up and won the Connecticut Women’s Amateur a week later. This followed a tie for 23rd in her only previous state amateur appearance last year.
The victory came after she had trailed the leader, Dai, by two strokes at the start of the last round. The deficit expanded to five shots after Dai’s 34 and Lopez's 37 on the first nine.
Lopez did not whither and proceeded to make seven pars and birdied Nos. 12 and 16. Her 2-under 34 and Dai’s 5-over 41 on the back for a two-stroke victory made Lopez the youngest winner of the Connecticut Women’s Amateur since it began in 1966.
At 13 years, 9 months and 26 days, Lopez replaced Liz Janangelo as the youngest. Janangelo won her first of five consecutive Connecticut Women’s Amateur titles in 1997 at age 13 years, 10 months and 9 days.
“I love it when I can beat the older kids, make them blink,” Lopez said. “When you walk on the tee and they look at you, well, they think they’re going to beat you. There’s no pressure on me; I’m supposed to be the underdog.”
She’ll bring her determination and youth and display her golf skills as a freshman member of the Ridgefield High School girls’ golf team next spring.
“What I like about golf is the competition, and the feeling when you hit a really good shot and smash it down the fairway,” she said.
Her golf roots began at age 5 when Lopez hit some balls in the back yard with her father. At that age, golf was an addition to her participation in Latin dancing and ballet.
Her mother, Sybilla, had introduced her to ballet when she was 3. “Ballet emphasizes body awareness and balance, so that is great for golf,” Lopez said.
Lopez said she outgrew ballet and the required rehearsals when she was 9 and turned her focus to golf.
The ability to swing the club and hit quality shots was immediately apparent. So, too, was her athleticism. Like ballet, Lopez also believes skiing has aided her in golf. “In golf you have movement in your top half and then your lower half,” she said. “There’s a lot of movement in your lower body in skiing, and you gain separation and control of your lower body.”
Lopez has a strong, solid base and core in her golf swing. “My ball-striking is good, but I’d say putting is the strength of my game,” she said. “The shots from 50 yards and in I’m more uncomfortable with, but I’ve gotten a lot better with that this year.”
She believes playing at her home course – the par-71, Rees Jones-designed Redding (Connecticut) Country Club – makes her a better player.
“It’s hard and challenging,” she said. “If I can play well there, I can play well anywhere.”
One of her goals is to shoot under par at Redding. Her best round from the blue tees (one short of the black tips) has been a 74.
That 71 looks in trouble.
E-MAIL TOM
Top: Connecticut amateur champ Arabella Lopez, 13, ranks No. 1 in the CSGA women's player-of-the-year race.
CONNECTICUT STATE GOLF ASSOCIATION