KARRIE’S OPEN ROAD:

With breaks again in 1999, 2006-2007 and again in 2021, this means the 2022 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open will be her 25th.

It’s an auspicious year for her to celebrate her silver anniversary. The women’s championship will be run concurrently with the men’s for the first time, from December 1-4 at Victoria and Kingston Heath Golf Clubs. It’s also the 30th running of the women’s event, in the year that WPGA Tour of Australasia – formerly Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG) – celebrates its 50th birthday.

And there’s the 25th anniversary of the victory by Karrie’s mate Jane Crafter in 1997. Karrie, Jan Stephenson and Jane remain the only three Australian women to have won the championship in its history and Karrie and Jane the only two in the seven consecutive years it was held at Yarra Yarra.

That alone should say how hard winning a national title is, and why Karrie’s record is so special.

But it hasn’t always come easy. Does it ever for any illustrious champion? It’s the tough breaks that build resilience, and resilience the burning desire to win and then win more. For Karrie, the same. There were some close calls and considerable pressure – both self-imposed and media-generated – before she finally broke through.

In that first outing, she finished 28 places behind winner Annika Sorenstam, banking the princely sum of $1640.
“I know I didn’t play my best that week but I was pretty nervous. I was just happy to make the cut and to be able to bank a cheque,” she recalled.

“I was achieving all these great things overseas and I guess I wanted to prove myself and show it to the Australian golf fans and there was extra attention, too, more than I got on a regular basis overseas, so that heightened the pressure of it.”

But the new century ushered in fresh self-belief, bolstered further by a rescheduling change. In the period between the Opens of November 1998 and February 2000, Karrie was well ascended into her playing peak.
“By 2000, I was on a bit of a tear,” was her modest assessment.

In fact, she was now the No.1 player in the world, having won six LPGA tournaments (one of them her first major, the Du Maurier Championship), been top-10 in 22 of 25 starts, winner of the Vare Scoring Average with 69.43 – the lowest in the (then) 47 years of the award – and adjudged Player of the Year over the 1999 season.

Tellingly, she had by now collected two home wins in the Australian Ladies Masters.

“Once I won the 1998 Australian Ladies Masters and then followed that up in 1999, that made playing in Australia a lot easier for me; I didn’t feel the pressure that I’d had before.”

She arrived at Yarra Yarra in 2000 a 7/4 favourite, ahead of Laura Davies at 7/1. The very accomplished but oft under-rated Rachel Hetherington was 13/1.

By day’s end of the third round, Karrie on 13-under 206 led Rachel by two shots with Laura one further back. What followed on the final day was one of the great spectacles in the championship’s history.

The two leaders, friends and rivals from junior days, put on a show of birdie-making and eagle-challenging over the final nine that had the crowd enthralled. Back and forth it went, a head-to-head slugfest worthy of a prized title fight – which it was.

“Rach and I grew up playing together and we’re good friends but we both wanted to win as badly as each other, so I wasn’t taking my foot off the pedal because we were mates and she wasn’t either. One of my great memories of the Opens is that duel with her.”

For context, Rachel shot an eight-under 65, equalling the course record set by Crafter in 1997 and equalled by Kelly Robbins in 1998, posting six consecutive birdies between holes 13-18 for a back nine 29. And yet she lost ground to finish runner-up by three. Laura shot 66 and finished five back.

Karrie’s back nine held four birdies and an eagle, part of a new course record 64.

In the midst of these numbers is one shot that defined both the win and the skill of its architect.

In Karrie’s own words: “I think the memory that stands out the most is when I chipped in from the back of the 16th for eagle. Rach had about a 20-foot eagle putt and when I chipped in, her caddie Shaun McBride just shook his head at me and told me to ‘eff’ off!”

This was no easy chip. The pin that day was deep to the back of a sloping back-to-front green and Karrie in a swale behind it. Hoping to finish within 10 feet, she bumped the ball into the bank with her sand wedge and watched as it slowly, slowly, headed ever closer to the hole before falling in.

The Patricia Bridges Bowl was finally in her hands. Her reaction: “I was on a high from how the tournament had unfolded. The adrenalin was still pumping and I was definitely enjoying the achievement but also feeling a bit of relief and satisfaction as well. The first is always very special.”

The first of five, as we now know.

Two years later, also at Yarra, she defeated emerging Norwegian golfer Suzann Pettersen in a playoff. In 2007 at Royal Sydney she won by six shots, handling the wind better than the rest. In 2008 at Kingston Heath, she came from two shots behind with three to go to catch Jiyai Shin and win on the second playoff hole. And in 2014 on a very windy day at Victoria she chased again, this time reeling in overnight leaders Chella Choi and amateur Minjee Lee, who had started the day five shots ahead of her.

In a sea of other achievements, including seven majors, where does it rate to win your national title?
“I think it’s as close to a major as it can be”, Karrie said. “Particularly because we’ve played on some of the best courses in Australia, some of the best in the world. I’m just as proud that I’ve won five Women’s Australian Opens on those courses as I am just having won five championships.”

In the years since her win at Victoria, Karrie’s footprint on Australian golf has changed, her competitive focus transforming into supporting others in different ways.

“My golf schedule now fits into life rather that the other way round. For too many years life fitted in to golf. There are other things I want to do with my life.”

These include the establishment in 2008 of the Karrie Webb Scholarship, in conjunction with Golf Australia, to support emerging players. Winners have included Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Su Oh and Grace Kim, who appears certain to secure her LPGA card for 2023.

“I feel I’ve gotten as much out of it or even more than the girls. For me it’s connected me with the next generation of Australian female golfers. I love watching their careers unfolding, it’s really rewarding.”

Karrie is also a founding member of the Steering Group for Vision 2025, Golf Australia’s four-pillar strategy established in 2018 to redress gender imbalance in participation.

In October 2019, she announced her partnership with respected golf course architect Ross Perrett, formerly of Thomson Wolveridge Perrett, to form Perrett Webb. Prior to his passing Thomson had made known his desire that Karrie join the firm.

“Ross and Peter invited me in 2011 to be part of their bid for the 2016 Rio course. It was my experience with them and the respect they showed me, encouraging my ideas, that meant if I was going to partner with anyone, it would be them. I’ve enjoyed my time with both of them and I’ve learned a lot. Design is definitely a different side of golf,” she said.

Her name now adorns the trophy for a new marquee event on the women’s calendar, the WPGA Championship. January 2022 saw players vie for the Karrie Webb Cup. Fittingly, it was won by Su Oh, a two-time Karrie Webb Scholarship winner.

Karrie’s name is also attached to a Junior Masters event at Ayr Golf Club, of which mum Evelyn is the junior co-ordinator.

In March, Karrie was appointed captain of both the men’s and women’s Australian golf teams for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, succeeding two-time captain Ian Baker-Finch.

A known Olympics fan, having carried the Olympic torch up the steps of the Sydney Town Hall to light the cauldron for the 2000 Olympics and narrowly missing selection for the 2016 Olympics when golf was reinstated after a 112-year absence, Karrie said; “It’s an incredible honour. Hopefully we can get one or two Aussies up on the medal podium.”

As to her own playing future, though, she admits she is ‘‘still trying to figure that out.”

Until she entered the Gainbridge LPGA near her home in Florida in January, Karrie had not played a four-rounder since 2019 and in 2020 played only three times for three missed cuts. She followed the Gainbridge with the Shoprite LPGA Classic in June and the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in mid-July. Then, a couple of weeks later, the Senior LPGA Classic, her first event on the Legends of the LPGA Tour. She won.

It seems unsurprising that she would, really. Or that she would go head-to-head with her arch rival Annika Sorenstam, against whom so many battles have been fought. Two legends, at it again.

“We always tended to bring out the best in each other at our peak and it happened that week as well,” she said. “For me, winning is great no matter who is in the field but I think I’ve played so much against Annika and we’ve gone back and forth so much over the years, that made it extra special.”

But as to regular tour golf, she thinks five or six events each year might be enough.

“I miss being in contention and all the good moments and it was great to have those feelings again at the Senior LPGA but I don’t miss the grind, I don’t miss being hard on myself each and every day or having to be 100% switched on at 7am!”

The exception is the Women’s Australian Open, particularly this one.

“I’m really excited for the first playing of it with the men and I hope the public gets behind it, not just golf fans but that we draw more sports fans, like the Presidents Cup. My hope is that this year is the start of something really great for both men’s and women’s Australian Opens.”

For the first time she will prepare for the championship without the assistance of her long-time coach, mentor and close friend Kelvin Haller, who passed away in August.

Haller, then off three, began working with her when she was eight because there was no coach at Ayr GC. He remained her primary coach throughout, despite being confined to a wheelchair after an accident in 1990 when Karrie was 16. His spinal injury has prompted her support of both the Reeve Foundation and Spinal Cure Australia.

“I don’t think there are enough words in the dictionary for me to fully describe the impact that he had on me, not just as a golfer but as a person,” she said with emotion. “We had a very special bond.”

That bond was felt strongly by Haller himself. In an article in the now defunct Sports Weekly after she won the Women’s British Open in 1995, Haller spoke proudly of her achievements and what she meant to him: “To see her become number one in the world will give me an extra reason to live.”

To her chances this year. What odds should she be?

‘I don’t know myself, let alone help the bookies! But I love those golf courses and I’ve won the championship on them before. Honestly, I think I’ve got as good a chance as anyone in the field; it’s just whether my game is sharp enough or not. I think if I get off to a decent start, then I’ll be all set.”

So there you have it, the quiet tip. Here’s another: if she’s five or six shots behind, don’t discount her – and if the wind is up, look out.

It’s been quite the career, Karrie’s, the stuff of movies, especially some of the gripping finishes. It’s interesting to ponder such a composed and thoughtful individual being one of the true excitement machines of the game and yet she is.

That’s not lost on her either. Haller’s passing has given her pause to reflect on it all.

“It was one step after the other when it was happening and it always seemed possible but when I look back on it now, talking about the odds of me winning the Women’s Australian Open this year, what odds would you have given me as a young girl growing up in a farming town, whose coach was self-taught through reading golf magazines and then at a crucial age for me, the peak of my development, became a quadriplegic yet goes on to become my only coach through the peak of my career, gets me to number one in the world and qualifying for the Hall of Fame? It would be more than a million to one.

“All of what I did seemed natural and normal and Kelvin was my coach, that’s how it was, but when you step back and look at what happened, it was just meant to be.”