Karrie Webb

Karrie Webb
Karrie Webb.JPG
Personal Information
Birth December 21, 1974 (1974-12-21) (age 34)
Queensland, Australia
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Nationality Flag of Australia.svg Australia
Residence Boynton Beach, Florida, U.S.
College none
Career
Turned Pro 1994
Current tours LPGA Tour (joined 1996)

ALPG Tour (joined 1994)

Past tours Futures Tour (1994)

LET (joined 1994)

Professional wins 47 (LPGA Tour: 35, other individual: 12)
Major Championship Wins: 7
Kraft Nabisco Won 2000, 2006
LPGA Championship Won 2001
U.S. Women's Open Won 2000, 2001
Women's British Open Won 2002
Du Maurier Classic Won 1999
Awards
LET Rookie of the Year 1995
LPGA Rookie of the Year 1996
ESPY Awards Best Female Golfer 1997
Vare Trophy 1997, 1999, 2000
LPGA Tour
Money Winner
1996, 1999, 2000
LPGA Tour
Player of the Year
1999, 2000
Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year 2000
LPGA Crowne Plaza Achievement Award 2000
Elected to World Golf Hall of Fame 2005

Karrie Anne Webb (born 21 December 1974) is Australia's most successful female golfer, and one of the top players in the history of global women's golf. She currently plays mainly on the U.S. based LPGA tour and also turns out once or twice a year on the ALPG Tour in her home country.

Contents

Amateur career

Webb was born in in Ayr, Queensland. She was a member of the Australian Amateur team making six international appearances from 1992-1994 including a 1994 appearance in the Espirito Santo Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships.[1] This was the year she became the Australian Strokeplay Champion.[2]

Professional career

Webb began her professional golfing career in 1994 playing on the Ladies European Tour where she finished second at the Australian Ladies Open[2] and the Futures Tour in the US, where she won one tournament.[3] In 1995 she became the youngest ever winner of the Weetabix Women’s British Open in her rookie season in Europe,[2] prior to it being classed as an LPGA major, and was European Rookie of the Year. She qualified for the LPGA Tour after she finished second at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament despite playing with a broken bone in her wrist.[3]

In 1996 Webb won her first LPGA tournament in her second LPGA start at the HEALTHSOUTH Inaugural on the fourth hole of a sudden death playoff. She won three other tournaments and become the first LPGA player to win $1 million mark in a single season topping the year end money list.[4] She was also the 1996 LPGA Rookie of the Year.[3]

In 1997 Webb won three times on the LPGA Tour including another win at the Weetabix Women’s British Open, won her first Vare Trophy[5] and was voted 1997 ESPY Best Female Golfer.[6] In 1999 Webb won her first major championship at the du Maurier Classic and won her first LPGA Tour Player of the Year award.[7]

In 2000, Webb won two more major championships, following up her win at the Kraft Nabisco with a win at the U.S. Women's Open. This gained her a second consecutive Rolex Player of the Year title and Vare Trophy and she topped the money list, missing out on a chance to become the LPGA's first single-season $2 million winner by taking a mid season break to return home to Australia to run with the Olympic torch.[8] Teamed with Rachel Hetherington representing Australia she won the Women's World Cup in Malaysia,[9] was awarded the preeminent sport award in Australia, the Dawn Fraser Award.[10] and was named Female Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America.[11]

She successfully defended her U.S. Women's Open title in 2001 and won the LPGA Championship to become the youngest winner of the LPGA Career Grand Slam.[12] She teamed with David Duval to play against Annika Sörenstam and Tiger Woods in a made-for-TV alternate shot competition between the two best male and two best female players in the world that at the time provided women's golf its largest audience ever.[13] Webb's win at the 2002 Women's British Open, which had become an LPGA major in 2001, meant she completed a Super Career Grand Slam - every available major championship in women’s golf in her career.[14]

Webb now suffered a three-year slump. She collected just two LPGA wins in the next two years and in 2005 had a best LPGA finish of tied sixth[15] although she did team up with Rachel Hetherington to represent Australia at the Women's World Cup of Golf[16] and won her fifth ANZ Ladies Masters title back home in Australia.[17]

Webb qualified for entry to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000, but was not eligible for induction until she has played ten LPGA Tour events in each of ten seasons. She met this criterion on June 9, 2005 when she completed the first round of the LPGA Championship.[18] At age 30, she became the youngest living person ever to enter the Hall of Fame,[12] and kept that distinction until 2007, when fellow LPGA star Se Ri Pak was inducted.

Webb staged a comeback season in 2006. In the final round at the Kraft Nabisco Championship she holed a 116-yard shot from the fairway to eagle the 18th hole and then birdied the same hole in a sudden-death playoff to beat Lorena Ochoa and win her second Kraft Nabisco Championship.[19] She won four other tournaments including the Evian Masters[20] and Mizuno Classic.[21] Her 2006 Kraft Nabisco win took her into the top ten of the Women's World Golf Rankings for the first time since they were introduced in February 2006.

Her 35 LPGA Tour victories places her tied for twelfth on the list of players with the most career LPGA tournament wins.[22]

Professional wins (47)

LPGA Tour (35)

LPGA Majors are shown in bold.

ALPG (10)

LPGA of Japan (2)

Results in LPGA majors

Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Kraft Nabisco Championship T5 29 T7 3 1
LPGA Championship T41 T9 T4 CUT T9
U.S. Women's Open T19 4 T31 7 1
du Maurier Classic ^ T2 T27 T14 1 T7
Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Kraft Nabisco Championship T2 7 T21 3 T44 1 T20 T13
LPGA Championship 1 T4 T56 T39 T20 2 2 T29
U.S. Women's Open 1 CUT CUT T16 T31 T37 CUT T38
Women's British Open† T15 1 T3 DNP T11 CUT T28 T9

^ The du Maurier Classic was discontinued after the 2000 event.
† Webb won the Women's British Open in 1995 and 1997 before it became an LPGA major.
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied for place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

LPGA Tour career summary

Year Majors Other wins LPGA wins Earnings ($) Money list rank Scoring average
1996 0 4 4 1,002,000 1 70.86
1997 0 3 3 987,606 2 70.00
1998 0 2 2 704,477 4 70.52
1999 1 5 6 1,591,959 1 69.43
2000 2 5 7 1,876,853 1 70.05
2001 2 1 3 1,535,404 3 70.16
2002 1 1 2 1,009,760 5 70.33
2003 0 1 1 780,239 11 70.39
2004 0 1 1 748,316 9 70.53
2005 0 0 0 500,268 27 71.52
2006 1 4 5 2,090,113 2 70.11

See also

Notes and references

  1. "Notable Past Players". International Golf Federation. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Karrie Webb Player Profile". ALPG (Australian Ladies Professional Golf). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Karrie Webb Full Career Bio". LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  4. "Annual Money Leaders". LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  5. "Vare Trophy Winners". LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  6. "ESPY Awards past winners". ESPN. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  7. "Rolex Player of the Year Winners". LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
  8. Lisa D. Mickey (2000-09-15). "Karrie weaving her own 'Webb'". Golf World. Retrieved on 2008-11-25.
  9. Mike Green. "Japan Wins Women's World Cup Golf". Scratch Golfer Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  10. "27th Australian Sport Awards Overview". AustralianSportAwards.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  11. "Nelson, Webb & Woods gain Writers Awards". Golf Today. Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
  12. 12.0 12.1 "Youngest member of the World Golf Hall of Fame". LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  13. "Woods-Sörenstam beat Duval-Webb". Ausgolf (2002-07-31). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  14. Martin Park (2002-08-11). "Webb cruises to sixth major victory". LET Ladies European Tour. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  15. "Webb's comeback is the stuff of golf legends". Worldgolf.com (2006-08-03). Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
  16. Martin Park (2005-02-10). "Women's World Cup of Golf set for Friday". LET Ladies European Tour. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  17. Martin Park (2005-02-27). "Miyazato caught in Karrie's Webb". LET Ladies European Tour. Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
  18. "Karrie Webb enters the Hall of Fame". LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  19. "Webb comes from behind to win second Kraft Nabisco Championship". LET Ladies European Tour (2006-04-03). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  20. "Webb wins Evian". LET Ladies European Tour (2006-07-30). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  21. "Webb ends Sörenstam's Mizuno streak". USA Today (2006-11-05). Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
  22. "Official Career Wins". LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). Retrieved on 2007-03-07.

External links

Persondata
NAME Webb, Karrie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Professional Golfer
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Ayr, Queensland, Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH