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Champ is underdog for Women's Open

As Karrie Webb tries to regain her form and win a third consecutive Open title, Annika Sorenstam is on a roll.

By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 4, 2002

Karrie Webb begins her quest for a third consecutive U.S. Women's Open title today, having won the past two by a combined 13 strokes. With enough victories to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame at age 27, Webb should be the odds-on favorite to make golf history.

But she's not.

Rarely does a two-time defending champion with Webb's credentials head into an event as an underdog.

Webb has Annika Sorenstam to thank for that.

For all her success, Webb, along with the rest of women's golf, has been left in Sorenstam's wake this year. Sorenstam has won six times in 12 starts, including three of the past four and four of her past six. She won Sunday at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

Meanwhile, Webb has been trying to find herself. She captured her first LPGA title of the year June 23 in Rochester, despite struggles with her swing.

"Annika is playing unbelievable golf, and consistently great golf every week," Webb said during a news conference in Hutchinson, Kan., where the tournament begins today at Prairie Dunes Country Club. "Obviously, you can't overlook her. I wouldn't be surprised to see her on top of the leaderboard at some stage during the tournament."

But Webb wouldn't be surprised to see herself up there again, too. She won last year's Open at Pine Needles by eight strokes, the largest margin of victory in 21 years. In 2000, Webb won by five strokes at the Merit Club outside of Chicago.

In the typical difficult conditions at an Open, Webb seems to thrive. Last year, she was the only player under par. She became the seventh player to repeat as Open champion. Sorenstam was the last to do so in 1995-96.

Now, not only will she battle herself, Sorenstam and Se Ri Pak, the winner of last month's LPGA Championship, but history. No woman has won three consecutive U.S. Opens. The only man to do so, Willie Smith, completed his trifecta in 1905.

"I always look forward to this week at the start of every year when I set my schedule and I always look forward to this tournament," Webb said. "I haven't gone out of my way to do anything different or to try not to think about three in a row, or that I have a chance to win three in a row.

"It's always going to be in the back of my mind, but I've got to put myself in a position to even win before I can think about winning three in a row."

Before her victory in Rochester -- where Mi-Hyn Kim squandered a five-shot advantage heading into the final round -- Webb's best finish this season was a tie for fourth. She said much of her trouble stemmed from a major swing change. Like Tiger Woods, who four years ago underwent extensive work on his swing and won just once in 1998, Webb felt the need to make herself better for the future.

"My body is taking longer to learn and get used to new things," she said. "It's sort of been a work in progress over the last couple years, and sometimes you just can't do all the things you want to do straightaway. So I've slowly been working a couple of different things into my game.

"I have some perspective that I have had a pretty good six years. I don't have much to complain about. I don't want to get too hard on myself. I'm working on a few things, and I haven't been doing them as quickly as I would like. I think that's the most frustrating part."

But the Open seems to bring out the best in Webb. In six previous appearances, she has never missed a cut, and posted two top 10s in addition to her two victories.

And there are similarities to last year, when Webb entered the Open with little fanfare. All the attention was directed to Sorenstam, who went on to win eight times.

"Last year I was not playing particularly well in the lead-up to the Open but the practice I did in the week off before the Open was really good," Webb said. "I felt really good about where my game was, and that's how I feel this year, too. I won in Rochester and my practice last week just carried on from there."

Despite having just one victory on the LPGA Tour, Webb's record is not horrible. In fact, most players would jump on such a showing. She won the Australian Open, a non-LPGA event, in a playoff and has five top 10s, including a seventh at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and a tie for fourth at the LPGA Championship, two of the four majors.

"Just playing the U.S. Open is enough motivation for me," Webb said. "The fact I'm going for three in a row is just an added bonus."

Back-to-back U.S. Women's Open winners

Mickey Wright, 1958-59

Donna Caponi, 1969-70

Susie Berning, 1972-73

Hollis Stacy, 1977-78

Betsy King, 1989-90

Annika Sorenstam, 1995-96

Karrie Webb, 2000-01

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