Karrie Webb: Learning To Enjoy Golf
IN: News | by Bruce Young | 07 Apr 2006
Just seventy two hours after her dramatic win at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, I caught up with Karrie Webb at her home in North Queensland. Had this been a scheduled or last minute decision to return to Australia?
"No I was always coming as this was the window that I had in my schedule to see my new niece for the first time," she said. Her sister Janelle had given birth to a daughter, Olivia Grace, about five weeks earlier and Webb was keen to spend time with them both.
Webb's win at the first major of the year three days earlier had come at a time when, given the fact that she had not won on the LPPGA Tour in almost two years and that it had been nearly four years since her last major win, it had been unexpected.
"I wouldn't say that a win in any week is unexpected from my own viewpoint. If I went into each week thinking I couldn't win then I probably wouldn't be out here. Golf's been good enough to me for me not to have to be out here. I'm certainly not here just to make up the numbers but rather am out here to try and win each golf tournament I play so I wouldn't say it was unexpected in that sense but obviously after my third round on Saturday it was a longshot for me to win on Sunday."
Two months ago Webb had given an indication of just how much desire she had her to return to her former days when, during at media conference interview at the ANZ Ladies Masters on Australia's Gold Coast, she had said as much. "Like I said back then," she said this week, "I can't control what anyone else does but I know that I still have the ability to be the best in the world. I have been there before and with the work I have been doing the last couple of years I feel that physically I am a much better player than I was in my prime. That I was able to turn up at the Nabisco after having had a slow start to the year and get myself into contention then go on and win our first major of the year was just great."
"I was frustrated and angry with myself after my 76 on Saturday. I had played with Lorena (Ochoa) and Michelle (Wie) on Saturday and on reflection realised that if I had have played half good on Saturday I would have been in with a real shot. Michelle and Lorena had not played all that well on Saturday and I was frustrated that I had been unable to stay in touch as if felt then if I had have done so then I would have had a real chance on Sunday."
It was during the latter stages of the third round that a pep talk from her caddy Mike Paterson gave Webb some hope for the following day. They had had words on one or
two occasions during the third round as frustration had crept in but the good caddy that Paterson is had him in her ear in the latter stages of round three. "He essentially, although not in so many words, told me to get my head out of my butt and stop feeling sorry for myself. I had been asking the question aloud to him and myself as to why I couldn't get over this mental hump when I needed to. He reinforced the need to finish off the third round well and told me that there was still a long way to go and that the others were not playing well and that you never know what might happen tomorrow." Webb birdied the last hole on Saturday but was till seven behind the leader Ochoa.
"I figured, because of those issues mentioned earlier, that a last round of 65 might give me a chance," added Webb. By the time she had made the turn she was three under for the day and five under for the tournament. At that point Ochoa, who was playing two groups behind was at ten under after an early birdie. She was therefore still five ahead of Webb with ten holes for her to play. Webb pressed on and with birdies at the 10th and 11th she was closing in quickly especially after Ochoa began to struggle with four bogeys in seven holes from the 9th.
When Webb reached the 72nd tee she had a share of the lead with Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie and one ahead of Ochoa. "I missed the fairway with my tee shot at the last which was frustrating as if I had hit a good tee shot there I could have reached the green. I was not in a good lie either and so was forced to lay up with very little control over how far I could hit it and therefore what distance I could leave for my third. I got a little lucky as the ball came to rest at the perfect yardage for me, some 116 yards from the hole. I was trying to hit it a little closer to the water but it came to rest a little further from the hole. As soon as I heard the yardage though I thought oh that's perfect. That meant I didn't have to force it or take anything off the shot. It was just the perfect wedge and when it was in the air I was thinking that I have already holed a shot from the fairway this week surely it can't happen again."
"When the shot went in Webb thought she had won the tournament. I couldn't believe it. I knew the girls behind had dropped a shot or two and when that went in I thought I had won. I did not expect to have to be involved in a playoff. In the end it was probably a good thing that I had half an hour or so to at least recover from my own reaction and that of the crowd."
Of course there was one more shock that was about to hit Webb and that was when Ochoa hit a brilliant second from long range to eight feet and holed it for eagle to force the playoff. Webb went on to win at the first extra hole after a superb pitch from behind the green to set up birdie which the Mexican was unable to match.
Not only was Webb quick to acknowledge the support of her caddy but that of the two coaches she has working with her, namely Ian Triggs and Kelvin Haller. They have worked hard on changing certain aspects of her swing. "The main change that I have been trying to achieve is concentrating on swinging with the core part of my body rather than having the huge move away from the ball with the huge arc and leg drive. It is more about taking it away and hitting through the ball with my core and keeping the arms soft." Webb has always known that she has been on the right track but there have been times when the constant work without results on the board was getting the better of her.
Triggs had been in Rancho Mirage until the Thursday of the Kraft Nabisco before leaving for his duties as the coach of the Australian Women's Queen Sirikit team in that event in Adelaide. Early in the week Webb had reached a point where she was getting frustrated. "I said to Triggsy on the Monday last week that I was getting sick of hearing how close it was supposedly getting. I had a bit of a 'hissy fit' and told him it is not getting close! I said that when I used to win all those tournaments I used to practice like 'crap' before the event so hopefully that is a good sign for this week." Clearly it was.
Webb is quick to point out that this win will not necessarily get her back to winning or even contending every week. "I don't necessarily think, because I won last week, that I will be out there winning every week but it is a huge boost to my confidence and will assist in battling those mental demons next time I am in contention."
Webb and her support team had been through a demanding two years in the search for what they all knew she still possessed. "Earlier in my career I had really had plenty of up and very few down times. Everybody, with perhaps the exception of Annika Sorenstam, has their up and down times on the golf course. If the last two years are the worst times in my career then I feel I will be very lucky."
"In some ways I probably haven't had a goal to chase, she added. "I achieved more than I dreamt of achieving early on and I would look at new goals and ask myself how they would change my life. So I was out there working hard and yet not having any light at the end of the tunnel to chase after so to speak. Now I think it is more a case of enjoying it more. I did enjoy it to some extent before but didn't really know how to handle the rest of the stuff. I know in my own mind I have the ability to be number one again but the real goal is to enjoy it more. Perhaps that is also one of the reasons I have become so frustrated namely that I now want to be back out there enjoying the crowds and hear them cheering and soak it in. It has certainly made me enjoy and appreciate this last victory also."
In referring to her supposed slump in the past two years she highlights the point that it is perhaps a product of her earlier success. "You set yourself up for some sort of letdown when you play at the level I did for the first few years on the LPGA and as was the case with Tiger the expectations are very high for them to continue. I imagine a lot of people would have been delighted to have had the slump that Tiger had and I feel that has been the same with my own situation."
Webb also talks positively about the future of Women's professional golf and the LPGA.
"I think we are definitely in the best position we have ever been in the history of the LPGA and I think the big key to it is the amount of good young Americans who are coming through who are showing a lot of potential. In most of my time on the LPGA Tour that is perhaps what we have been lacking. The likes of Juli Inkster and Meg Mallon and others are and have been great players but the media have been always looking for the next stars and now with the likes of Paul Creamer, Cristina Kim, Michelle Wie, Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel and others, there are several who are going to be leading players for many years and with more following behind. Corporate America and the Media need that in order for them to be interested in us and it is great to see the response."
It is ironic that in the week of the first major of the year in men's golf, when much of the talk in Australian golf is about just when another Australian major champion will emerge, more than ten years after the last, Karrie Webb has won her seventh major in the last seven years.
It is a record and achievement that perhaps deserves more credit than it is afforded.
Webb heads back to the LPGA in a week's time for the Atlanta Charity Championship starting on April 20th.
