Tag: Karrie Webb

Karrie Webb accepts invitation to be honorary member at St. Andrews

Other honorary members include Dame Laura Davies, Rory McIlroy, Annika Sorenstam and Tiger Woods.

Karrie Webb is the newest honorary member at St. Andrews.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club made the announcement Friday morning that she accepted the invitation.

A World Golf Hall of Fame member with 57 professional wins worldwide, including 41 LPGA titles, received the invitation “in recognition of her successful playing career and the substantial contribution she has made in helping to develop the next generation of professional golfers,” according to a release sent by the R&A.

More: LPGA all-time prize money list top 20 topped by Annika Sorenstam

Webb has a Super Career Grand Slam on her resume for winning each of the five major championships in women’s golf. She has seven major championship victories in all. She was the Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year in 1995 and the LPGA Rookie of the Year the following year.

She became the first LPGA player to win $1 million in a season and has earned just shy of $20.3 million on the LPGA, second on the all-time list.

Karrie Webb
Karrie Webb joins Dame Laura Davies, Catriona Matthew and Annika Sorenstam as honorary members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. (The R&A)

“It is a privilege to be made an Honorary Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and I am humbled to be joining such an esteemed group of golfers on the honorary membership roll,” said Webb in the news release. “Simply put, I love golf and to be connected with a Club which holds so much history and also shares my passion for the development of the sport is something I am very proud of.”

Webb founded the Karrie Webb Series and scholarship alongside Golf Australia. Each year, Webb mentors the top two Australian women amateur players. Past recipients include Minjee Lee and Hannah Green.

“I would like to congratulate Karrie on becoming an Honorary Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews,” said Ian Pattinson, the Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. “Karrie’s numerous victories and accolades are a testament to her talent, but more than being a great champion herself, Karrie is a role model to many young golfers and takes an active interest in the development of the next generation of Australian champions.”

Honorary membership was previously extended to Dame Laura Davies, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Catriona Matthew, Rory McIlroy, Nick Price, Belle Robertson, Annika Sorenstam and Tiger Woods.

Karrie Webb returns to LPGA this week to gear up for British Open at St. Andrews

This, she feels, is her last chance to play the Old Course.

Karrie Webb returns to the LPGA this week for the first time in two years for one big reason: She wants another crack at the Old Course.

Webb, 49, is playing this week’s ShopRite LPGA Classic under the Hall of Fame/Career Wins category. A 41-time winner on the LPGA, Webb won the AIG Women’s British Open in 2002 and is exempt into the event until age 60. (She also won the Weetabix Women’s British Open in 1995 and 1997 before it was designated a major.)

This summer marks the first time the Women’s British has been contested at the Old Course since Stacy Lewis won in 2013. Lorena Ochoa won the first women’s professional event ever held on the Grand Old Lady in 2007.

“I just think St. Andrews and the Old Course is such a magical place,” said Webb. “I’ve never worked out how to play the Old Course well, but I just love everything … staying in the town, being there, even being on the golf course.”

2013 Ricoh Women's British Open
Stacy Lewis putts for birdie on the 18th green during the final round of the 2013 Ricoh Women’s British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland. (Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images)

There’s a possibility that the women could return to the Old Course again before Webb reaches the end of her exemption, but she has no desire to tee it up with 20-year-olds when she’s 58 or 59.

This, she feels, is her last chance.

A seven-time major winner who will be eligible for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open next year, Webb last won on the LPGA in 2014 and claimed the ShopRite LPGA Classic the year prior.

The ShopRite Classic at Seaview Country Club in Galloway, New Jersey, is one of the longest-running events on tour and a favorite of Webb’s. While there are only two 54-hole events remaining on the LPGA schedule, Webb remembers there were nearly a dozen three-rounders when she came on tour in 1996.

“It is a bit of a throwback,” she said. “I think what this tournament does for charities in the local community is a huge thing, and it’s probably why it’s remained the three rounds.

“I would say any one of the girls that played in the U.S. Open last week would probably be really glad it’s three rounds this week because they get a bit of a breather before they have to tee it up.”

Last week’s winner Yuka Saso, now a two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion, is in the ShopRite field along with fellow Aussie Hannah Green, a two-time winner in 2024.

Green, currently No. 5 in the world, is slated to represent Australia in the 2024 Paris Olympics alongside Minjee Lee, who is currently 10th in the Rolex Rankings.

Webb will captain Australia’s golfers in Paris, replacing Ian-Baker Finch, who held the position for the Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and again at Tokyo 2020.

Both players are past recipients of the Karrie Webb Scholarship and consider the LPGA and World Golf Hall of Famer a mentor. On Tuesday of ShopRite week, the Aussies in the field had dinner together. Webb said the Aussies on tour are as tight as they’ve ever been.

“I’m a wreck watching live scoring or watching the telecast these days,” she said. “I feel like their big sister I guess, but I know what my parents went through watching me in live scoring all these years.”

2019 KPMG Women's PGA Championship
Hannah Green is congratulated by Karrie Webb after winning the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club. (Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images)

As for the rest of her summer playing schedule, Webb isn’t sure. While she’s never declared herself “retired,” being out on tour, she said, will never again be a regular thing. She just likes to get out and see what’s left in the tank.

“By the end of the week,” she said, smiling, “I’ll know why I don’t play regularly, probably.”

LPGA all-time money list top 20 topped by Annika Sorenstam

This list is updated through the 2024 JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club

The LPGA has three members of the $20 million club, five who have won at least $17 million in on-course earnings, 24 with $10 million or more and 81 who have earned at least $5 million.

Annika Sorenstam leads the way. Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Cristie Kerr are the three golfers who have surpassed $20 million.

Nellly Korda, with her win the 2024 Chevron Championship, her second major, surpassed $11 million. Jin Young Ko has become the 20th to reach the $12 million mark.

Let’s take a closer look here at the top 20 of all-time.

This list is updated through the 2024 JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club.

‘How can we get involved?’: Greg Norman hints at growing interest for women’s LIV Golf League

“I have personally had discussions with individual LPGA Tour players … They love what our product is showcasing.”

On the eve of the first women’s major championship of the year in Texas, Greg Norman hinted at a growing interest in a women’s LIV Golf League while speaking ahead of the upstart circuit’s next event in Australia.

The CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf was asked about the future of LIV both from a men’s and women’s perspective and admitted there have been internal discussions “on a regular basis” about the latter.

“I have personally had discussions with individual LPGA Tour players, LET Tour players, Ladies European Tour. They love what our product is showcasing,” claimed Norman during a press conference at Grange Golf Club ahead of LIV Golf Adelaide. “They ask all the time, ‘How can we get involved? We’d love to see a LIV ladies series.’”

It’s important to note that while LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan has previously said she would meet with LIV Golf officials, there has been no public indication that meeting has taken place.

“We can only drink out of a fire hydrant so much, so we have a lot of opportunities and initiatives coming across our plate,” Norman explained. “Our focus is to make sure this year we produce what we’re producing (with the LIV Golf League) from day one, 2023, and then going forward we’re looking what are the best opportunities to build on to what we have today.”

Believe him or not, Norman has been adamant that his goal for LIV was to coexist within the golf ecosystem. For the sake of their tour, LPGA players past and present can only hope Norman is good on his word.

“I think if Norman does do this, it’s going to totally ruin the LPGA, because I think most of the girls would go, just because the money is a game-changer,” said 31-time LPGA winner Juli Inkster last August.

“If it’s the money that they have on the LIV, you know they’re going to crush the LPGA,” said 10-time major champion Annika Sorenstam. “Hopefully they have the intention of growing the game and working together with the LPGA.”

Seven-time major winner Karrie Webb said she’d hold a grudge against players who doesn’t agree with her fellow Aussie Norman.

“If the LPGA were to suffer because a group of players went and started playing on a tour similar to (LIV) and the LPGA would suffer, I would hold that against them,” Webb said. “I know that (Greg Norman has) had this vendetta against the PGA Tour as long as I’ve known him, So I don’t think there would be any changing him. I would just ask him that in his ambition to succeed, that he doesn’t ruin women’s golf in the process.”

“I hope we survive it,” added former world No. 1 Stacy Lewis. “Should we talk to them? Absolutely. Ultimately, I think we have to find a way to co-exist.”

LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for Saudi Arabia to sportswash its controversial human rights record. The Kingdom has been accused of politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.

How can a women’s organization reconcile doing business with a regime that has such a horrendous record of human rights abuses, especially toward women?

“I think that’s maybe one of the reasons we should partner,” said Sorenstam, “to be able to make a difference.”

Contributing: Golfweek senior writer Beth Ann Nichols.

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Lydia Ko is close to making LPGA Hall of Fame. What do other stars need to qualify for one of the toughest Halls in sports?

Here’s a list of active stars and where they stand on the march toward 27.

Lydia Ko needs only two more points to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. At 25 years old, she’s tracking to become the youngest player to achieve that milestone.

Seven-time major winner Inbee Park holds the current record. She was 27 when she fulfilled the requirements. Karrie Webb was the youngest to reach the 27-point mark at age 25, but because of the 10-year service requirement the LPGA had in place until last year, Webb became officially eligible at age 30. Se Ri Pak was 26 when she reached 27 points but was 29 when she was inducted.

To be eligible for the LPGA Hall of Fame, players must have won or been awarded at least one of the following: LPGA major, Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average or Rolex Player of the Year.

They must also amass 27 points with:

  • one point for each LPGA official tournament win
  • two points for each LPGA major tournament win
  • one point for each Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year honor earned.
  • An Olympic gold medal is also worth one point as of last year

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Here’s a list of active stars and where they stand on the march toward 27:

Women’s field reduced to 108 players at historic Australian Open, while men’s field grows to 156

Originally, both the men’s and women’s fields were slated to have 144 players each.

Major champions Minjee Lee, Hannah Green and Karrie Webb are back on home soil this week for the ISPS Handa Australian Open, which will be held concurrently with the men’s championship for the first time. But while the history-making events, held in Melbourne on Victoria and Kingston Heath Golf Clubs, will offer equal prize money, they will no longer have the same field size.

Originally, both the men’s and women’s fields were slated to have 144 players each. The women’s field has since been reduced to 108 players and the men’s enlarged to 156. The purse for each will be $1,150,000 ($1.7M AUD).

For years, the Australian Open was co-sanctioned by the LPGA and held early in the year. This time, however, the event falls during the LPGA’s offseason and during the tour’s final stage of qualifying school. The men’s event is on the DP World Tour schedule.

“We are fortunate to have solid depth of talent in our women’s field for the ISPS Handa Australian Open, with field sizes now adjusted to 108 women and a men’s field of 156,” Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland said in a statement to Golf Australia magazine.

“Co-sanctioning the event with the LPGA wasn’t possible this year due to contractual arrangements in the schedule, and numbers have been significantly impacted by the LPGA Tour school, which was delayed by a hurricane. That has resulted in approximately 120 players not being able to enter the event and has led to a reduction in field size so as to avoid compromising the integrity of the national Open.”

Other LPGA players in the field include 2022 major winners Jennifer Kupcho (Chevron) and Ashleigh Buhai (AIG Women’s British Open). Marquee players in the men’s field include British Open champion Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman and New Zealand’s top player Ryan Fox.

It’s a family affair for several of the biggest names as Minjee Lee will be joined by brother Min Woo in the men’s Open field along with Green’s fiancé Jarryd Felton.

There will be two cuts for each field. The first will come after 36 holes to top 60 professionals and ties plus amateurs, and the second after 54 holes to top 30 and ties (both pros and amateurs).

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A rivalry renewed: Karrie Webb defeats Annika Sorenstam by four at Senior LPGA Championship

“I think Annika and I tried to downplay the rivalry a little bit, even though I think it truly existed,” said Webb.

The Senior LPGA Championship unfolded exactly how golf fans had hoped – with a showdown between Karrie Webb and Annika Sorenstam, two of the greatest players to ever compete on the LPGA.

Sorenstam chipped in for eagle on the first hole at Salina Country Club in Kansas, and Webb called it “game on.”

Tied for the lead at 12 under as they made the turn, a late eagle from Webb on the back nine pulled the Aussie ahead, and she ultimately won by four. Sorenstam parred all three pars 5s on the back nine and shot 38.

Webb, 47, carded a 5-under 67 on a scorcher of a Sunday to finish at 14 under in her senior major debut and earn $60,000. Sorenstam, 51, shot 69 to finish at 10 under.

American Laura Diaz finished alone in third, seven back.

“It’s been a while since I won a golf tournament,” said Webb, “so it feels really good.”

Karrie Webb competes at the Senior LPGA Championship. (LPGA photo)

Last week’s Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational marked the first time that Sorenstam and Webb were in the same tournament field since 2008. Both were asked about the rivalry they shared at the peak of their games.

Sorenstam and Webb combined for 113 LPGA titles, including 17 majors. Together the LPGA icons have won a total of 150 titles worldwide. Sorenstam retired from the LPGA in 2008 and Webb began playing a limited schedule in 2018. Both made their debut in the Senior LPGA this week.

“I think Annika and I tried to downplay the rivalry a little bit, even though I think it truly existed,” said Webb. “We probably should have played on it a little bit more.”

Sorenstam said Webb pushed her to take every facet of her game to another level, calling it a “friendly rivalry.” She recalled an LPGA commercial that had Webb hitting golf balls with Sorenstam’s face on them.

“Then she had a voodoo doll where she put a needle in me,” said Sorenstam, “and I think I put a little sticker on her back … I still think of that today. It was a good one. I thought it was good for the game and certainly good for us.”

Annika Sorenstam finished runner-up in her Senior LPGA debut. (LPGA photo)

Webb noted that for all the tournaments they won, there weren’t many Sunday rounds in which they were paired together. There might have been some back and forth on the leaderboard, but they weren’t often side by side.

“If it’s more than five times I’d be surprised,” said Webb, who noted that they did play plenty of rounds together on Thursday and Friday.

Webb said looking back, playing up the rivalry even more would’ve been good for the LPGA, but she struggled to do that.

“I think in a rivalry there’s a good guy and a bad guy,” she said, “and I was having my own struggles with the media at the time, so I knew who the bad guy would probably be made out to be, so I think that’s why I played it down.”

Webb last won on the LPGA in 2014 and said she wasn’t quite sure about her yardages down the stretch because she hadn’t played with adrenaline in quite some time. The short putts late in the afternoon seemed longer and her mouth went dry as she worked to close the door on Sorenstam.

“I just knew I had to play my best golf,” said Webb. “When we’ve battled in the past, that’s always what I had to do was play as good as I could.”

Sorenstam won last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in her championship debut. She’ll be back at the event next month at NCR Country Club in Dayton, Ohio, to defend her title. (Webb isn’t eligible for the event because she’s not yet 50.)

“I wish I would’ve continued the pressure that I started,” said Sorenstam of her hot start, “would’ve been fun. But I think I ran out of gas a little bit.”

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LPGA: Here are 10 teams to watch this week, featuring stars Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Lexi Thompson, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Leona Maguire

Here are 10 teams to watch this week at the LPGA’s 2022 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.

The 2022 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational will feature a wonderful blend of past and present. While sisters Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson are two the biggest names on the current tour, Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb are two of the biggest names of all time. They’ll all be in action in the same field this Wednesday-Saturday at the LPGA’s only team event.

This year, 72 two-person teams will vie for a purse of $2.5 million at Midland Country Club in Michigan. The victory will be considered an official LPGA title.

Here are 10 teams to keep an eye on this week, with Rolex Ranking in parenthesis:

LPGA legends Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb set to compete in back-to-back weeks in July, including a senior major

LPGA fans will get a rare treat this July when Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb tee it up in the same tournaments.

LPGA fans will get a rare treat this July when Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb tee it up in the same tournaments in back-to-back weeks.

First up for the LPGA Hall of Famers is the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, a team event at Midland Country Club from July 13-16 in Michigan. Sorenstam will partner with fellow Swede Madelene Sagstrom, while Webb will team up with Marina Alex, who won her second LPGA title in early May.

It will mark the first time the two legends have teed it up in the same event since the ADT Championship in 2008.

From there, Webb and Sorenstam will head to Kansas for the LPGA Senior Championship July 22-24 at Salina Country Club. Both will make their debut in the championship, which is open to players 45 and older.

Other notable players in the Senior field include Juli Inkster, Laura Davies, Hollis Stacy, Jan Stephenson, Pat Hurst, Rosie Jones, Liselotte Neumann, Catrin Nilsmark, Laura Baugh, Michelle McGann and two-time winner Trish Johnson.

Sorenstam, 51, won the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open last summer, which is limited to players 50 and over. Webb, 47, has teed it up on the LPGA twice this season, most recently the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

2006 Florida's Natural Charity Classic
Karrie Webb watches her tee shot on the 11th hole during the third round of the 2006 Florida’s Natural Charity Classic at Eagle’s Landing Country Club in Stockbridge, Georgia. (Photo: Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Sorenstam and Webb have combined for 113 LPGA titles, including 17 majors. Together the LPGA icons have won a total of 150 titles worldwide. Sorenstam retired from the LPGA in 2008 and Webb began playing a limited schedule in 2018.

“I’m probably not as intense as I once was,” said Webb with a smile, when asked about summer tournament prep.

For Sorenstam, it will mark three consecutive weeks of competition as she will first participate in the American Century Championship July 8-10 near Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Earlier this summer, Sorenstam competed in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, where she missed the cut.

Bosque Real Golf Club
Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb at the Bosque Real Golf Club in Huixquilucan, Mexico in 2005. (Photo: Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images)

This will be Sorenstam’s first LPGA regular season competitive start since the 2021 Gainbridge LPGA, where she made the cut on her home course in her first tour start in more than a dozen years.

“I’m super excited to tee it up alongside my friend, Madelene for the Dow GLBI,” Sorenstam said. “She’s got a positive attitude and I’ve enjoyed practicing and spending time with her. I’ve heard great things about this tournament from my friends on the LPGA Tour. Team events are always fun and I’m looking forward to the experience.”

Madelene Sagstrom and Annika Sorenstam (courtesy photo)

Sagstrom won the 2020 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio and represented Europe for a second time at the 2021 Solheim Cup at Inverness.

“Annika is one of the greatest Solheim Cup players in history and teaming up with her for the Dow GLBI will be a thrill of a lifetime,” said Sagstrom. “We have begun practicing at home in Orlando, and we can’t wait to tee it up in Midland in July.”

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If LIV Golf comes for LPGA stars, Karrie Webb worries some don’t appreciate history enough to stay – ‘I would hold that against them’

The seven-time major champion has some advice for LPGA players who may consider LIV down the line.

BETHESDA, Md. – Karrie Webb walked a lot of holes at Congressional Country Club this week but didn’t hit a shot. She’s here with Kirsten Rudgeley and Caitlin Pierce, two Australian amateurs who, as Webb’s scholarship winners, received a week at the KPMG Women’s PGA with the LPGA Hall of Famer. The trio played golf together and practiced in the Washington, D.C. area all week and followed the likes of Minjee Lee and Hannah Green during competition. A truly priceless experience.

Both Lee and Green are previous scholarship winners and stayed the week with Webb when she was competing in the U.S. Women’s Open.

“What she does in women’s golf and for us amateurs,” said Rudgeley, “it’s pretty cool. Not many golfers give back.”

Webb’s scholarship and mentorship program is a grow-the-game initiative that dates back to 2008. The roots of the idea stretch back to 1986, when Webb watched her hero, Greg Norman, compete in the 1986 Queensland Open. That’s when she told her parents that she wanted to play professionally. She even stayed at Norman’s Florida estate as a bonus for being the overall girls champion in his junior golf foundation.

Now, the 47-year-old seven-time major winner is concerned that Norman, as CEO of LIV Golf, might threaten the very tour that so greatly shaped her life. With Golf Saudi already so heavily entrenched in the Ladies European Tour, and Norman having made public statements about a desire to get further involved in the women’s game, Webb is worried that what’s happening in men’s golf could make its way over to the LPGA.

The two Aussie legends haven’t talked about it.

“I know that he’s had this vendetta against the PGA Tour as long as I’ve known him,” said Webb. “So I don’t think there would be any changing him. I would just ask him that in his ambition to succeed, that he doesn’t ruin women’s golf in the process.”

At the peak of her career, Webb said she turned down money to compete in South Korean events because the timing conflicted with her preparation for majors. Webb says she’s now “like a rookie on the LPGA” when it comes to course design, and while there could be a take-projects-where-you-can-get-them mentality, she has turned down opportunities to work in Saudi Arabia.

What if piles of life-changing cash had been offered in her prime?

“I think it would be tempting if it’s life-changing for sure,” she said. “Everyone has to think about that. … I guess what I’ve learned, the fact that I have made a lot of money in my life, is it does make you comfortable; it doesn’t make you happy.

“You’ve got to live with whatever decision you make.”

The first time Green, the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA champion, ever attended a professional event was as the guest of Webb at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She enjoyed it so much that in 2017, she went on her own to stay with Webb at the Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, while competing on the Epson Tour.

Webb has hosted a couple dozen young Aussie stars over the years, helping to nurture and cultivate future champions who will inspire the next generation.

LPGA founder Louise Suggs was a great friend of Webb’s, and she worries some current players don’t appreciate the tour’s history enough.

“If the LPGA were to suffer because a group of players went and started playing on a tour similar to (LIV) and the LPGA would suffer,” said Webb, “I would hold that against them. I think they really need to think about that.”

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