She won the 2000 Women’s Open championship and gained entry in the LPGA Hall of Fame at the age of 25. Well, sort of. She doesn’t have to win any more tournaments, but she must wait five more years — playing 10 years — to be eligible to enter the hall. She has done the hard part.
Last summer, at that point in their respective five-year professional careers, Webb, a year older, had equaled Tiger’s career total in tour wins and trailed him by only one in major crowns.
She had won roughly one-third the money Tiger had pocketed from tour purses — but $5.8 million in five years is the equivalent of extreme success on the LPGA Tour.
If that was not convincing, the fact that she was the No. 1 woman player on the planet might do.
Webb had “arrived on tour” but did so via different life highways than Tiger. He had been the California golf wunderkind, displaying his strong swing on television as early as age 3. His junior and college careers were recorded and analyzed in laborious detail. The PGA Tour may yet convince Congress to establish the day Tiger turned professional as a national holiday.
Webb, on the other hand, learned golf in Down Under in anonymity. Her hometown, Ayr, in Queensland is small; Karrie was essentially a country girl. She learned golf from an instructor in his backyard, and that yard was more dust than anything else.
Barely out of the equivalent of high school, she ventured to the U.S. to test her game against the best. She found out, rather quickly, that she was among the best, taking Rookie of the Year honors — just like Tiger. She learned quickly too to deal with the bright lights of TV and with being the center of attention, difficult tasks for a shy, country girl.
She won her first major title in 1999, the du Maurier Classic (now defunct) and was named player of the year. The next spring, she took the rich Nabisco event. With that major title and four others under her belt in 2000, Webb was clearing her way to the top of the money list and staring down history without blinking.
Webb’s Women’s Open triumph 10 months ago was by five strokes, and she was never more than one shot out of the lead in all four days. But this was not a run-away-and-hide kind of win at The Merit Club in suburban Chicago.
She shot 69-72-68-73 for a 282 total, six under par and five ahead of 1991 Open champion Meg Mallon and Cristie Kerr. In her own triumph, Mallon battled veteran (and future Hall of Famer) Pat Bradley.
Mallon held the first-round lead with 68, one ahead of Webb; and the duo shot matching par-72 cards the second day.
Webb’s third round was built early with four birdies on the first seven holes. Her 68 left her four shots clear of the lead in pursuit of her first Women’s Open title.
Mallon, playing in the last group of the day with Hall of Fame Betsy King, was nearly helpless. King, a two-time champion and member of The Merit Club, shot 71 and 70 to tie Webb after two rounds.
Early in the third round, King’s back felled her. While King sought medical attention on the course, their group slowed. Mallon spent a great deal of time watching Webb post birdies on the leaderboards.
“It felt like we were playing one hole to every four of hers (Webb’s),” Mallon said. “Karrie just kept going lower and lower.”
Webb sensed victory Sunday morning but was tense. “I was nervous in the morning and through the day,” she recalled. “There’s that extra pressure playing in the U.S. Open. It’s so intense.”
Webb responded to the Sunday pressure poorly at first. She hit the water on the par-three seventh hole and made double bogey. She played with a large oak tree on the next hole and had to make an eight-foot putt for par. When Mallon birdied the ninth hole, Webb’s large overnight lead was gone.
She recovered with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole while Mallon three-putted for bogey. Meg three putted three more times on the back nine as Webb pulled clear once again.
“I have achieved my ultimate career goal,” Webb summed of her winning effort. “Anything after this is a bonus.”
The year 2000 was one of comparisons between Tiger Woods and Karrie Webb.
He gained a career slam of majors at the same time she won enough points to join the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Both easily took player of the year honors and were No. 1 in world honors by gender.
Both focused on and were successful in major events.
Both are Capricorns.
Both won the U.S. Open.
But one has to appreciate in particular the way Webb proved her mettle, the tougher climb and the longer trip.
