She gets her round over in a hurry by scaring up a covey of birdies for a course-record 65, then takes the rest of the day off to relax and get ready for a weekend run at her second straight U.S. Women’s Open championship.
Meanwhile, the 105 players who didn’t finish their rounds, including 13 threesomes who never teed off, check in for a 7 a .m. start today. At the completion of play, the cut will be made and third-round pairings made during a 45-minute turnaround, according to USGA officials.
Webb set the table with a level-par 70 in Thursday’s opening round at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club. Then she got a tremendous break with an 8 a.m. tee time, enabling her to finish ahead of the heavy rain and thunderstorms that forced a postponement of the second round for many of the players.
Webb wasted little time making her move as the predicted storm clouds gathered. She started on the back nine and rammed home an 18-foot putt for birdie on her second hole. That proved to be the catalyst that led to a five-birdie, no-bogey round and propelled the defending champion into an enviable position.
Her 36-hole total of 135 was two shots better than anyone else, although first-round co-leader A.J. Eathorne was at minus-3 after four holes, exactly where she began. Cindy Figg-Currier, whose opening 67 had shared the overnight lead with Eathorne, never made it onto the course Friday.
Annika Sorenstam, who also had a 70 on Thursday, was one over after two holes Friday, making bogey on No. 2.
Of players who had completed their rounds, Juli Inkster, the 1999 champion, and Kristi Albers were closest to Webb at even-par 140. Albers shot 69, while Inkster came in with a 2-over-par 72.
“I really just took up where I left off on Thursday,” Webb said. “It was a good, solid ball-striking round again. The difference today was that I got a few more putts to go. I was a little more comfortable on the greens.”
‘She’s Loving In’
Eathorne was envious of Webb’s position.
“Karrie’s resting now,” she said. “She’s got her round in and she’s loving it.”
Webb needed only 26 putts to negotiate the treacherous greens and managed to stay out of the penal rough for the most part.
“I didn’t miss many fairways today,” she said, “only one that I remember … maybe two. All in all, it was really a solid round of golf.”
Inkster, who was paired with Webb and 1987 Open champion Laura Davies for the first two rounds, agreed.
It’s no accident that Webb is on her game this week. She had taken a break from the LPGA
“Karrie is playing great,” she said. “I’m going to have to start hitting the ball better to give it a shot, because she is playing awesome golf.”
Webb took a break from the LPGA Tour over the past few weeks to play in some overseas events — where she won twice — and also worked on some swing changes.
“I’ve been working on a few things and I felt up to this very day that it was coming around a bit more,” she said.
“I put in a hard week’s work last week and really felt my game was to where I had a chance at the Open and could at least put myself in contention for the weekend.”
Webb was delighted with her pairing the first two days. Between her, Inkster and Davies, there were three Open titles and a total of 68 career victories.
“When I saw my pairing last week, I couldn’t have asked for a better one,” she said. “I have tremendous respect for Julia and Laura. You pretty much know that you’re going to see some good golf in that group. I felt that — especially on Friday — that we fed off each other.”
Even Webb didn’t totally escape the rain, however. She was on her 13th hole (No. 4) when the first rain delay came.
“I was lucky, though,” she said. “I had a putt of about a foot for birdie, which I didn’t get to tap in until after the rain delay. Fortunately, I wasn’t in a situation that I had to grind over a five-footer or something.”
Stretch of Pars
After getting her first birdie on No. 11, Webb made all pars until the par-18th. There she hit an 8-iron second shot to within 10 feet to go two under.
She failed to birdie the par-5 No. 1 hole, but when her 6-iron approach on No. 2 came some 70 feet short, she chipped in with a sand wedge.
Her 53-degreee wedge shot on No. 4 stopped a foot from the cup and, after the brief rain delay, she holed that to move to minus-4. A wedge to 15 feet on No. 6 led to her fifth birdie of the day.
“I could hit it just as well another day and not shoot 65,” she said. “I holed a 10-footer on No. 15 to stay one under and that kept the roll going. Then I did the same thing on No. 3. That’s probably what I’m most happy about. If I had made a couple of bogeys and shot 67, I would still have been happy. But the fact that I made those par putts to keep the momentum, that’s what I really feel good about.”
