WOMEN'S OPEN: Webb's Olympic inspiration keeps her going

BY BRENDAN JAMES AT THE GRANGE GC

THE last time Karrie Webb played golf in Adelaide she was a teenager.

The then 19-year-old made her professional debut in the Australian Open at Royal Adelaide, just down the road from The Grange Golf Club where she will contest this week’s ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open. That was in 1994 and a young Annika Sorenstam won the title – her first of an incredible 93 victories as a professional – and Webb finished 18 shots back but not disgraced. Both women, of course, are now World Golf Hall of Famers.

It is testament to the seven-time major champion’s longevity that she continues to stick her finger up at father time and remain competitive on the LPGA Tour, when the average age of Tour winners each year continues to move south.

World No.1 Lydia Ko is not only a crowd favourite but the bookies have her at short odds to win the Women's Australian Open. PHOTO: Martin Hunter/Getty Images.

The players most favoured to battle it out for the Patricia Bridges Trophy this week are all in their teens – Gen Y players with serious talent. World No.1 Lydia Ko, at 18, has already won 15 professional titles but has only just got her driver’s licence. Canadian Brooke Henderson (18), England’s Charley Hull (19) and West Australian Minjee Lee (19) have all had Tour wins and sit within the top-20 of the world ranking.

But rarely has the 41-year-old Webb looked as fit and relaxed on the eve of an Australian Open campaign as she did when she fronted the media today.

Even the inevitable questions about age and keeping up with the kids didn’t ruffle her feathers.

“The only time I have to think about it (age) is when I’m sitting here answering questions from you guys,” Webb smiled.

“Lydia (Ko) answers this well, she’s achieved all these youngest player records, she doesn’t think when she’s competing against someone how old they are. And I don’t either.

“I’ve always said the golf ball doesn’t know how old you are. It’s just about getting the ball in the hole. As long as I feel fit and healthy to play I can be competitive every week.”

She added that once she considered retiring at 35 but it will only be at the end of this year she considers scaling back from a full-time tournament playing schedule.

Karrie Webb says she is hitting the ball well ahead of this week's championship.
PHOTO: Michael Cohen/Getty Images.

“I said I was going to retire when I was 35 and I’m 41 now… still going,” she said. “I think when you’re 18, 30 seems like its a long way away but from experience it comes around pretty quickly.

“For me, I don’t know what the future holds for me in terms of playing full time. I’m concentrating this year on playing a full schedule and hopefully making the Olympic team and then just reassessing where things are at the end of the year.”

Webb’s relaxed demeanor can, in part, be attributed to feeling less expectation from fans and sponsors, now that she has been surpassed by Minjee Lee as the top-ranked Australian player. She said for many years the weight of expectation from others was often a burden forced upon her.

“I really enjoy coming home and playing in front of the home crowd and enjoying the support I do get when I’m here,” Webb said.

VIDEO: FINAL ROUND HIGHLIGHTS OF KARRIE WEBB'S 2014 VICTORY

“Its hard to win the Australian Open as an Australian because it carries more prestige for Australians than it does for anyone else. Every Australian wants to play well in the Australian Open, and some times that added pressure and that added focus that they might not get anywhere else in the world, some times can be hard to get used to and deal with.

“It took me a while. It took me a couple of years to win in Australia, which to me I thought was an eternity... even after I started winning, it still took me a while to appreciate coming home to play.

“It was great to have home crowd advantage. But when I first came home, it almost felt like it was a burden because the expectations of others was really heavy on my shoulders. But I have come to realise how great it is and how much support I do get.”

Webb says her motivation to stay out on Tour and work as hard as ever comes from the opportunity of winning a spot on the Australian Olympic team for Rio in August. To that end, her current world ranking is good enough to get a start but she knows she needs to keep playing well to be Rio-bound. And winning a sixth Australian Open this Sunday will almost guarantee her spot.

Just winning one Australian Open was an honour, Webb says. Now she's taking aim at her sixth.
PHOTO: Getty Images

“Just winning the Australian Open any time is an honour and I’ve been able to do it on great golf courses,” she said. “It would be really nice to have a shot at winning here this week.

“I think it is very much a second shot course. I think the greens are quite challenging where they can put some of the pins and some of the holes will have cross breezes, so there’s not a lot of green space there to be too far off with your approach shots. Anyone hitting their irons well this week will have a good chance.

“Doing well here will obviously help get to the Olympics. Ever since golf was announced to be in the 2016 Olympics it has definitely been a focus of mine. It’s what has kept me out here playing full time.

“It’s important to make the team for me, but obviously if something were to happen and I didn’t it’s not going to tarnish what I’ve already achieved.”

Seven major championships and 57 professional wins after that inauspicious debut at Royal Adelaide, and a sixth Australian Open victory beckons … perhaps capped off with an Olympic medal to bring the curtain down on a remarkable 22-year career.