Private Webb back in the hunt

She’s out to prove she’s not washed up at age 32.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Karrie Webb never cared for the spotlight until she found herself in the shadows.

There was a time she dominated women’s golf, winning five out of eight majors, a standard topped only by Mickey Wright and Tiger Woods in the professional game. She won the career Grand Slam in a span of seven starts, the quickest of anyone in golf. And in the major considered the toughest test, Webb had no peer.

She won the U.S. Women’s Open in consecutive years by a combined 13 shots, the latter an eight-shot victory in 2001 at Pine Needles.

“It came so easy to her,” Juli Inkster said. “She had so much success early on that it was like, ‘I don’t see what’s so tough about this.’ But then she struggled a little bit, and the game got tough for her.”

The biggest struggle was coping with stardom.

An intensely private Australian, she hoped that her golf would be enough. Webb didn’t want anyone into her home, into her life. Reading stories about how she lacked the personality of a Nancy Lopez or a Dottie Pepper only made her withdraw even more.

“I liked the bright lights on me because I was playing good golf,” she said. “But they can go away off the golf course. I had a bit of a tough time with people criticizing me for who I am, my personality on the golf course. I didn’t handle it very well.”

Something to prove

She returns to Pine Needles with something to prove.

She is only 32, even if it seems as though she has been around for forever. If there was reason to feel her age, it was the arrival of so many teenagers on the LPGA Tour. Morgan Pressel became the youngest major champion in LPGA history at age 18 two months ago at the Kraft Nabisco. Paula Creamer was an 18-year-old rookie when she won her first LPGA Tour event, a week before graduating from high school. Michelle Wie has drawn the largest galleries since she was 14.

Webb was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame two years ago, and wondered what some of these kids thought of her.

“I didn’t want them to be in my group and be like, ‘How did she get in the Hall of Fame?’ I wanted to show them the standard of golf that I can play,” Webb said. “That might have motivated me a little bit.”

Close to the top

In a new landscape, with a new outlook, Webb is closer than many realize to getting back to the top.

She is No. 2 in the women’s world rankings behind 25-year-old Lorena Ochoa, and Webb could take a huge step toward No. 1 with another victory at Pine Needles, a Donald Ross design in Southern Pines, N.C., that will host the Women’s Open for the third time in 11 years beginning Thursday.

“I don’t think I’m done yet. That’s the bottom line,” Webb said. “I’m capable of being the best again, and if that never happens, it won’t be the end of the world. But I’ll chase after it. What drives me is the young players, to show them at 32 that I’m not washed up.”

Webb is not the only player who returns to the U.S. Women’s Open with fond memories.

Annika Sorenstam won her second straight title at Pine Needles with an awesome display of fairways and greens that she converted into a five-shot victory. But Sorenstam went 10 years before capturing another U.S. Women’s Open, beating Pat Hurst in a playoff last year at Newport Country Club.

The 36-year-old Sorenstam is recovering from neck and back injuries that forced her out of competition for two months. She made solid strides at the LPGA Championship two weeks ago, and now appears poised to add to her 69 career victories and 10 majors.