ORLANDO, Fla. — Few players on the LPGA Tour had a cooler off-season than Gaby Lopez.
Just under a month after the conclusion of the CME Group Tour Championship last November, the 30-year-old married her now husband Santiago Carranza on December 16 in her home country of Mexico. The wedding was attended by a few LPGA Tour players, including Carlota Ciganda and Emily Kristine Pedersen, as well as a slew of LPGA caddies, who were just some of the three-time LPGA Tour winner’s 500 guests.
“Parties in Mexico and weddings are just big and huge, so it was a 500-person party, and I had a couple of friends coming from the Tour. It was just so much fun to have them (and) some other caddies coming,” Lopez said. “Honestly, I've never had such a long off-season of not touching a club, but I really needed some time off and just starting my relationship with my husband in the right way.”
She then jetted off on a honeymoon of the most epic proportions, visiting Madrid, Uganda, Tanzania and Egypt before heading back to Mexico to recharge and prepare for this week’s season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Lopez spotted lions on safaris, got up close and personal with wild gorillas in Africa, cruised the Nile River and marveled at pyramids in Egypt, so picking a favorite honeymoon activity was a bit of a challenge for the newlywed.
“I think my favorite part was seeing the animals in the wild, in the pure nature of their behavior. That was awesome,” said Lopez. “We saw a cheetah catch a gazelle, and it was just different scenarios. Egypt was very cultural. I did not have a big background of Egyptian civilization but now I do, and it's just mind-blowing.
“We get to travel, but we don't really get to see different cultures. We don't get to explore them. We don't get to sightsee. It's tough when you're on the road. I'm so happy we did it.”
The 2024 season will mark Lopez’ ninth year competing on the LPGA Tour, and the veteran is looking forward to wiping the slate clean and starting anew this week at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. On paper, Lopez had a solid 2023, making nearly $800,000 in season earnings and recording four top-10 finishes, one of which was a tie for third at The Amundi Evian Championship.
But there were plenty of challenges that plagued Lopez last year as she worked to recover from an injury and planned a wedding while competing full-time on the LPGA Tour, no easy feat even for the most organized person. So, as she looks ahead to this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club – and the rest of the 2024 schedule – Lopez is excited for the opportunity ahead and is hoping to take full advantage every time she tees it up this season, starting this week at a tournament that she has won before.
“I was getting back to playing and practicing last week and 10 days ago, and I was like, it kind of feels that all of those fears and doubts from last year, I kind of feel that I can't really remember them as clear as I had them in the past,” said Lopez, who was the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions winner in 2020. “It's always exciting to see where your game is at and what can you always work on to improve. Towards the last tournaments of (last) year, I played really solid.
“My caddie and I were doing an evaluation of what half of my year looked like, rather than the beginning of the year, and it looked amazing. Probably not the results, but the numbers and stats were really clean. Just keep those feelings coming back and working on them. It's always super important to have a true off-season. You're gonna detox and disconnect from all those web spider webs that you have in your mind. Just very excited for 2024.”
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