Karrie Webb Interview - Longs Drugs Challenge

BY iseekgolf.com | LPGA Tour | 2006 Longs Drugs Challenge | Final Round | 25 Sep 2006

Q: Four birdies on the day, one double bogey, it was an exciting day out there. What were you thinking when you were looking at the scoreboard and watching Annika ahead of you?

Karrie Webb: Well, like I said, the first six holes, I was cruising along. I really probably should have been 4 under through the first six today. I had two fairly good opportunities on four and six and I didn’t make those. So, I just, obviously, I let everybody back in when I doubled seven. So from there, it was game on.

I knew that that probably would feed Annika’s aggression and she was definitely going to try to apply more pressure because she was in the group in front of me and make some birdies while I was standing back in the fairway watching.

It was a very tough afternoon. I played really solidly, I think the only green I missed on the back nine was on the last, and it just went through the back of the green there. I really wasn’t in any danger of making any bogeys, but I just wasn’t making the putts for birdies. But one by one, so I’m happy.

Q: Karrie, when you are on the tee at 18, the tee shot on that hole if you get caught right, I think you did one day this week get caught right, after that the second shot in it’s a donkey shot over water, what were your thoughts on that as well?

Karrie Webb: Off the tee, my thoughts were, just start it up the right half of the fairway and let the wind blow it back to the middle of the fairway. I actually put such a good swing on it, I didn’t want to hit it too far. I really crunched that one. Then I just had a fantastic wedge number for my second shot. I was sitting in a little bit of, it looked like an old divot, I think, so I didn’t get any spin on the ball. I landed it probably where I wanted to, it just didn’t have any spin, it ran through the back, and it made the three putt a little bit more challenging than I would have liked.

Q: Karrie, today was supposed to be maybe a little bit of an easier task for you to go out there and play a nice solid, somewhat under par round of golf, and go and get the trophy. By the turn it turned into a challenge, can you talk about any adjustments you made either mentally or strategically off the tee to sort of compensate what was happening on the leaderboard?

Karrie Webb: Not really. I don’t think I was playing safe at all. But I definitely couldn’t do that anymore. By the turn, I think I was only two shots ahead. I was going to keep playing the golf course the way I played it all week. I feel like I did that on the back nine, I just didn’t make the putts. I had a very good opportunity on 15, the par 5, that probably would have given me a little bit of breathing room there. I missed that one, and then I hit some good putts. It just didn’t go in. Either not enough speed or misread a little bit.

But I hit all of eight greens through 17, just hit that one through the green on 18.

So I played very solidly for the pressure that Annika was putting on in front of me. I’m just really happy I didn’t succumb to that. With Annika doing what she was doing, you know she is probably not going to make mistakes, she is probably only going to make birdies. I just stuck to my guns and hit some really good shots and hung in there.

Q: Is Annika the last person you want to see behind in a situation like that, or does it matter?

Karrie Webb: Well, she is probably the last person you want to see having a good day because you know she is going to have a good day. If she gets hot, probably eight times out of 10 she is going to continue on her way and shoot a good score.

Once I saw her get a bit of momentum – and I know I would feel the same way if she birdied seven right in front of me, and I made a double, and if the roles were reversed – that would have set her confidence for sure. I wanted to try and get a couple more birdies as quickly as I could just to let her know that it was just a mishap, not the way I was feeling on the golf course.

Q: As much as you left with a double on seven, you are still 3 up, Annika turned out to bogey the next hole, you are 4 up, when you are walking up the ninth tee you here the roar from the green, how much did you

Karrie Webb: Was that for an eagle? I didn’t realize she bogeyed eight. So I thought she must have chipped in for about birdie.

Q: What was going through your head, the roar was pretty loud?

Karrie Webb: I thought it was for eagle, and then when I saw the scoreboard she only got another birdie. I figured that she must have chipped in for birdie. Or putted in or whatever she did. But yes, I actually thought that she must have struggled on that hole a little bit and had a chip in for birdie. I didn’t think it was for an eagle.

Q: Did that get the juices flowing?

Karrie Webb: I knew. I knew as soon as she saw the leaderboard and saw I doubled seven, that would be enough for her to get her going.

Q: Karrie, this is the first year at Blackhawk, does it mean anything more, with this being your fourth win of the year to win at a new venue?

Karrie Webb: Not necessarily. Just to win means a lot. Obviously, at the start of the week, I wasn’t necessarily in love with the golf course. Like I told you yesterday, I had taken three weeks off and had some family over and hadn’t worked extremely hard, so I didn’t really know what to expect of my game this week. To come out on top feels great. Just that I know that my swing is in a place where I don’t even have to have a good driving range to go out there and trust, trust that my swung is there, and it’s going to be there under pressure. That feels really good.

Q: Can you talk about your feelings right now at this point in the year, being in the Player of the Year, the Money List race, as compared to the last couple of years and what a tremendous better sense it must be at this point?

Karrie Webb: Yes, I just mainly made me appreciate the good golf. Before I started to play not my best, I wouldn’t say it’s the worse I could have played. Before I started playing, not my best, I can’t say that I took it for granted, but I just didn’t appreciate what it took. It was probably a great learning experience for me to see the other side, the fine line of not playing that badly, but not getting results that you want. It feels great. I’m glad for that learning experience just to learn to appreciate winning and not taking the good golf for granted and just soaking it all in and hearing the crowds.

Q: Following along those lines, because you had so much success early, then a gap, can you appreciate more of what isn’t golf, what surrounds it? I’m thinking what Lee Trevino used to say he would like to be the last one in a dirty locker room because it meant something to him, is there anything else that you take from that now in terms of appreciation?

Karrie Webb: I guess I really haven’t necessarily focused in on that dirty locker room atmosphere: (Laughter.) But when you go head to head with the best player in the world, and I’m playing in an era where I am competing against Annika – we probably said that with Kathy Whitworth, Mickey Wright. You would see special talent, but to compete against her, she is on a roll, you have to dig deep and get the very best out of you.

I just really appreciate that double bogey was my only blemish out there, that I really got a hold of myself and didn’t make any mistakes and just made a couple of birdies and that was good enough. I just really appreciate that. It could have gone either way. I’m sure Annika probably had more chances to make some putts as well. I just felt pleased that once in a lot of tournaments that I snuck in ahead of her.

Q: The (Rolex) Player of the Year race is so closely bunched, if it weren’t a points thing, it was just a subjective vote, which MVP is in a lot of sports, how would you vote today?

Karrie Webb: I don’t know, it would be very close. You know, at one stage I would say first, second, third, fourth, I think it is a very tight race. Lorena, I don’t know what she did today, she must have had a good round to get to 10 under. That just shows what player of the year means to her. She is not just going to go out there and walk around on Sunday and let me or Annika or Cristie get points on her, so I really couldn’t say.

I’m glad it’s a point race and not a popularity contest towards the end of the year because I think it is pretty close for four players to really have a vote on it. Points will determine who it is, and I think that’s probably going to be the best way to do it this year.

Source – LPGA
Photo – Anthony Powter