BOCA RATON — Being the busy mother of two young daughters and the wife of a Major League Baseball player has a way of making a professional career seem secondary and dull, even if it’s on the LPGA Tour.

More than anything else, golf has been a distraction for Nancy Lopez the past two years, a time-consuming job that has interfered with her personal life.

With her head — and heart — with her family, playing golf and having success on the tour have been low priorities.

But with a new golf season beginning today with the Mazda Classic, the game — and winning — are important to Lopez again.

The competitive fire that helped her dominate women’s golf in the late 1970s and early ’80s has been rekindled. The timing for another Lopez comeback seems right.

“I’m going to play a lot more. I feel good about my game. More importantly, I feel good mentally,” Lopez, 30, said Wednesday. “I want to be No. 1 again, and I think I can be. It’s going to be a fight, but I feel I’m ready for it.”

She has rededicated herself to golf without disrupting her family. Her youngest daughter, Erinn Shea, will be 2 in May and is old enough to travel on the tour, and her other daughter, 4-year-old Ashley Marie, doesn’t begin school for another two years.

Lopez returns to the tour as a full-time player with the emotional support of her husband, Baltimore Orioles third baseman Ray Knight.

“Mentally, I’m prepared to make this comeback. During the offseason, Ray and I had a lot of positive talks about this,” she said. “I feel good about everything. I have a lot of positive flow.”

The family will travel together the first two weeks of the LPGA season, then Knight will join the Orioles in Miami for spring training.

Launching her comeback was not without some difficulty.

“We rented a mobile home so we could drive around Florida together. The company we rented it from didn’t tell us anything about it,” Lopez said. “When we got to Florida (from their hometown of Albany, Ga.), we filled the motor home up with diesel fuel. We didn’t know any better.

“We drove about 10 feet and the engine died. As it turned out, it takes regular unleaded. We had to get the motor home towed, then drained of 60 gallons of diesel. We got here a day later than we expected to. But we made it.”

Making it big again on the tour also could prove to be a difficult journey. In the three years that have passed since she last led the LPGA in earnings, the competition has grown stronger — in ability and in numbers.

But the difficult challenge is one thing that lured her back to full-time status.

“I want to be able to come back and prove to myself and to everyone else out here that I can still win, and that I can still be No. 1 on the tour,” she said. “The players are a lot better than they were 10 years ago, but I feel like I’m a much better player than I was then. I’m more mature and I know what it takes to win.

“I may be getting older, but I feel good about my game. I feel like I’ve got momentum. I’m prepared for a fight to the end.”

Lopez figures her stiffest competition will come from four golfers — Pat Bradley, Ayako Okamoto, Betsy King and Jane Geddes.

“These are players who want to prove something. They want to show they can be the best even when other golfers are on top of their game,” Lopez said. “That’s what drives me.”

Despite this obsession for succeeding, Lopez has not forgotten what is most important in her life.

“I figure I’ll play full time for two more years,” she said. “When Ashley starts school, that’s it, I won’t be out here full time. I think these next two years are going to be good years.”

When she does become a part-time player, Lopez said that will not signal a decline in her desire to win.

“Winning will be important. I’ve got to know I can still win, even if it’s only one tournament every year or so,” she said. “You’ve got to know when to quit. If I can’t win anymore, I’m going to go home.”

NOTES: Okamoto’s spot in the field of 144 was taken by Mary Murphy. Okamoto was practicing in Fort Pierce with Patti Rizzo and forgot to call LPGA headquarters to officially commit. Cindy Hill of Fort Lauderdale withdrew because of a bad back, and her spot was taken by Kim Williams.

MAZDA CLASSIC

— WHAT: $200,000 LPGA tournament.

— WHEN: Today through Sunday.

— WHERE: Stonebridge Golf and Country Club, Boca Raton.

— COURSE: 6,368 yards, par 72.

— TV: ESPN on Friday at 2 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday beginning at 12:30 p.m.

— FIELD: 144 pros will be cut to the top 82 after 36 holes.

— DEFENDING CHAMPION: Kathy Postlewait (in a playoff over Betsy King).

— TOP CONTENDERS: Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley, Jan Stephenson and Laura Davies.

— TICKETS: $6 today and Friday; $10 Saturday and Sunday. Season passes are $15.