LPGA MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 19, 2000

Karrie Webb

KARRIE WEBB: I would like to thank you all for participating today. And obviously, the way my year has gone this year, I mean, you know, I didn't think that I could do much more than last year to, you know, to improve this year. I mean, it's hard to follow a year from last year and expect to do much better. But already I feel that with the start I've had this year, no matter what happens the rest of the year, I've already surpassed things that I achieved last year. And this month off was definitely a good break and a good chance for me to recharge my batteries and get back out on Tour, and hopefully be fresh for the whole summer, and looking forward to getting back out next week.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I think I'd have to say that I tend to hit a lot of greens, and more often than not, even if I'm not -- feel like I'm not swinging it that well, I'll still -- even on a bad day hit 10 or 11 greens. And when you're on the green that many times, even on a bad day, you've still got a chance of shooting a pretty good score.

KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, definitely. I think rounds like that are definitely character-building. You know, my win at the Australian Masters was definitely a win that I probably didn't -- out of the tournaments that I won this year, I probably played the least of my best golf at that tournament. I felt like I really struggled with my swing all week, and found a way, you know, I might hit a green and make a birdie putt on one hole or manage to get up-and-down on the next hole or chip-in. Just did the right things at the right time, and pretty much for the whole tournament, didn't play the prettiest golf, but managed to get it in the hole better than anybody anyone else.

KARRIE WEBB: I think it does a little bit, but I think confidence has a lot to do with it, as far as just believing in yourself. You know, I'd see myself so many times last year and earlier this year get into situations where I'm not in the best spot, but I make the most of it, get up-and-down or make a bogey but get it back the very next hole. So just confidence has a lot to do with it as far as knowing the ability that I have and knowing that I can get myself out of that situation or get the shots back that I just dropped.

KARRIE WEBB: Sure, I'd be glad to. It's definitely -- being involved with the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation is something that is very close to my heart. And as many of you probably know, my coach is a quadriplegic and has been for about ten years. So it's the fact that I am being able to have the opportunity to be involved with them, to help raise money to find a cure or a solution to spinal cord paralysis is something that is, you know, ten years ago when my coach was wheelchair-bound was something that I vowed that if I ever had the chance to be involved with was something that was going to be a big cause for me. And we're having a celebrity Pro-Am or Pro Celebrity Am on July 10 at Manhattan Woods Country Club in New York, and just really looking forward to it. It's going to be fun, and, you know, everyone there that day is going to be there for a good cause, and it's personally going to be a good day for me.

KARRIE WEBB: I think it has the best atmosphere, as far as how the players are, how the crowds -- just the whole tournament has that little bit more of an electric excitement than any of the other tournaments that we play. And the atmosphere is really what gets -- I think what gets a lot of people going last week that week.

KARRIE WEBB: My whole set?

KARRIE WEBB: I have the Titleist 975 Driver, Callaway 3-wood and 5-wood. I have the DCI 981s from 3 (-iron) through pitching wedge, and 53-degree wedge and 58-degree wedge, which are Titleist, and a Scotty Cameron Del Mar 3 putter.

KARRIE WEBB: How long? I believe it's 33 inches by Scotty's measurements.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I think as far as the dominance, I mean, I don't know, I guess I could say that it feels that way a little bit, just because, you know, the things that we've done. Last year -- he dominated the Tour last year, and I didn't dominate the Tour by myself; Juli Inkster did. But as far as earlier this year, we both have dominated our respective tours. And, you know, I think as far as the comparisons, you know, we do have an uncanny -- our careers are just uncannily the same as far as the years that we've done certain things. We were both rookies in '96, both won Rookie of the Year. And along the way, we've had other things that have paralleled, coming to last year, both winning Player of the Year and the Money List and scoring titles, stuff like that. And I think the comparisons really started a lot more when we won our first start out on our Tours this year. But as far as the comparisons, I think they really have to -- they can't go much further than that, as far as we don't get to play against one another and we play on different Tours. You know, it's really hard to compare us any closer than that.

KARRIE WEBB: I think so. A little bit, just because those people are trying to make me a person that I'm not. And I think those people don't actually realize, you know, how tough a situation it is when you're 21 years old and you've just earned $1 million on your first year on the LPGA and how much attention that's brought to you. And growing up, it's not something that you had to deal with, and all of the sudden, it's something that you have to deal with. It's a learning process. You know, I'm not an overly outgoing person. That's just not my personality. So having to talk to different people and strangers, to me, every week is something that I've had to learn to deal with and mature with as I've gone on and grown up. I do believe that I have gotten better at it over the years, and I think I'm only going to get better at it the more and more times I have to be in the situation.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, you know, I think I've made no secrets that this part of my job is, for me, it is tough. You know, I want to do my very best to do it, because I don't necessarily want to do that for me so much as for the LPGA, because I know that the attention that I get to the way I play the game is going to help them in the long run. And without it affecting my golf game, I want to do as much as I can to help the LPGA in that respect. You know, as long as I'm still winning golf tournaments and I'm fitting this stuff into my schedule and it's not affecting the way I'm playing golf, then, you know, everyone is happy across the boards.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, we sort of -- I think just seeing him in person always inspires me. And I always seem to leave after a week of working with him, you know, that generally is at the best time of the year that I'm swinging the golf club. Because he only sees my swing at the most, three times a year, and that's three weeks out of 52. You know, I think that I get -- we don't really work on anything different. We work on the same things that we've worked on for years, and I think that's a key to my swing is that I've never really it overcomplicated it. I've always worked on the same things. Obviously, I've refined things down year by year and made my swing better, but never really made any drastic changes. And the fact that he has been my only coach, we both know my swing inside out, he especially. I think he doesn't -- it's not necessarily what he tells me, it's just the fact that I get to see him and he gets to see me, you know, hit balls for two hours in a row seven days in a row. Whereas, for the rest of the year, I'm doing it by myself and talking to him over the phone and sending him e-mails on my swing, which isn't as good as him.

KARRIE WEBB: It's never really anything that complicated. I always look for a good setup and good alignment, and then the main thing is just my takeaway, to make sure that I'm taking back on the correct line on the correct path and not taking it away too close and outside of the line.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, as far as how much attention there's going to be?

KARRIE WEBB: I don't see it -- I see it probably being a little bit more than in the past, but you know, when I am playing in a golf tournament, there's only so much I can do on one day, when I'm out there, you know, a five-hour round, an hour to warm up, an hour -- you know, there's already 8 hours gone in the day. There is only so much that I can do. Like I said earlier, I'll fit as much as in as I can to the point I feel like where it's going to affect my game. I'm not too worried about it, actually.

KARRIE WEBB: For sure. That's something that -- nearly every time I'm in my house, I feel that way; that I actually, you know, I own this house. I actually -- just different things like that. Just how good the game has been to me so quickly. You know, I think I dreamed of maybe having a chance to be in this position one day, but to have so much success so quickly, you know, I don't think anyone that has known me for most of my life expected that to happen. I just feel very grateful that I've had the opportunity to be doing this and to be doing it well.

KARRIE WEBB: I think so. I think that being thrown into the spotlight so quickly has had to make me come out of, you know, not being so outgoing. I've had to come out of that a little more than probably I would have if things had gone a little more slowly. But I think, you know, like I said, dealing with the media, as well as dealing with different people, that is a learning process to me all the time. Just, you know, the right things to say, doing the right things around different people and stuff like that. It's definitely something that I've had to grow up very quickly with.

KARRIE WEBB: I think so. Unfair just in the respect of -- just say the comparisons with Tiger Woods. Well, he went through a stage where he was so emotional, and last year he got criticized at the PGA for not being emotional enough. And I get criticized for not showing enough personality on the golf course. But you wouldn't be talking to us if -- to either of us if we did anything any differently. If we changed the way we were to make other people happy, we wouldn't be the people that we are. We wouldn't be as successful. That's just the way I get my job done and that's just the person that I am. You know, you're attacking my personality when, you know, that's just how I've grown up. That's just the person that I am. To me, if I'm going to be as nice and be the person that I am to you, and if you don't like me, I can't do much about that.

KARRIE WEBB: I think especially this year, the way things have gone, I think that my name on the leaderboard probably means to a lot of people; that it's not going to leave the leaderboard, you know: "She's playing well this year, she's got her name on the leaderboard again; so I've got to play well to stay ahead of her or to beat her." I don't know, I've never really asked anyone, but I think that -- if I was in that other position, that would be what was going through my mind. And I know I've done that with Annika Sorrenstam over the years that I see her name go up on the leaderboard and I still do that now. I know that it's pretty unlikely that it's going to leave the leaderboard.

KARRIE WEBB: This year is a different year for me, just with the fact that the Olympics is in Sydney and I'm taking three weeks off in September to go down to see that. That's three weeks off that I'd probably never take on a normal year. And the way the schedule -- the way the schedule is set up this year, early in the year, you know, with only having one tournament in four weeks, it was just perfect to not play last week in Sacramento and take a whole month and try to be fresh for the -- especially for the Open. I'm playing pretty hard up to the Open, and, you know, the Open and du Maurier, defending du Maurier and the British Open. I want to be fresh all the way through before I take the three weeks off in September. You know, this month has definitely helped out.

KARRIE WEBB: I think it's really up to him. The financial costs of getting him over here is probably not the problem. I think just for him to go to the Australian Masters, he has to go on an hour-and-45-minute flight, and he has an hour drive to get to the airport. And then when he gets to the airport, he has to be transferred from the his electric wheelchair into a wheelchair that is half the size; so he's squashed into that. Then he is boarded on the plane first and sits in a smaller seat for him, but he has to be manually lifted by two men, and he's -- you know, he's pretty heavy, and strapped in and, you know, make sure he's in his seat where someone -- because if someone knocks him forward, he can't pick himself up. There's all that stress involved on take off and stuff. Like on takeoff, his wife literally has to use all her strength to hold him in his seat because of the force of takeoff andd landing and stuff like that. And then when he gets to Brisbane before -- where he gets off to go to the Australian Masters, he has to wait until everyone gets off the plane, and then the two people come in and manually lift him into the small wheelchair, push him out and that's just for one flight. Now, for him to even get to L.A., he would have to go on three planes; so he'd have to do that three times, and be in an uncomfortable situation for 25, 30 hours. So I will never push him to do that. If one day he makes the decision to do that, if we have a U.S. Open or a major tournament on the West Coast -- I can't see him ever making a trip down to Florida to see me at my house. If he did, it would have to be over a number of weeks. He'd have to stop and watch a tournament and then make another trip. It just takes a lot out of him to even get to Brisbane, let alone all the way to the States.

KARRIE WEBB: He did. Where the rest of the country got to watch it live, and where we are in Australia, they had it delayed during the next week. So he got to see it delayed. He knew I had won, but he did get to see it.

KARRIE WEBB: I can't really legally talk to you too much about that, but it was hospital malpractice.

KARRIE WEBB: I have not. And Juli Inkster will be having her Hall of Fame party in the near future, and that will be my first opportunity probably to go out there.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, competitively, obviously, I know how good a player Juli is and how well she's been playing, especially in the last 18 months, two years. You know, she's someone that is -- if you see her name on the leaderboard, you've got to play well to stay ahead of her or to beat her or to catch her or whatever the case may be. You know, as a player, I respect her game and her dedication to the game and you know, everything that she's done. As a person, I think she's probably my most favorite person on Tour, I think. I just have so much respect for what she's done. Not only has she had a great golf career, but she's also been a great wife and is raising two great daughters and has taken time out to do all that, you know, to have that normality in her life and still have a great career. And on top of it she's a great person. You know, I can never think of Juli as, you know, the way people write about as a rival. She definitely doesn't come close to that description.

KARRIE WEBB: Oh, yeah, I think it's always a good story. And competitively, we are rivals, but I feel like I'm a rival to 143 other women that play every week. But obviously, the way things have gone in the last few year, Juli myself and Annika have been up at the top. You know, you do need to promote the players on the Tour that have been playing well. Obviously, where rivals -- like where Annika and I coming head-to-head in Hawaii, we had to play in a playoff. That is probably going to happen more often to the both of us, just because we've been playing so well, and so it's seen as a rivalry.

KARRIE WEBB: I've been -- well, mainly in Florida. The first week I travelled a little bit, but was in Charleston for three days for Beth Daniels' Hall of Fame introduction, and that was a very good experience and I was glad that I attended. And then the last three weeks I've been in Florida at my house in Boynton Beach and really trying to get things -- as you all are aware, tax -- April 15th and getting all the taxes already. I had to meet with my financial advisor for a couple of days, and I also met with Jay Burton (ph), my agent, and so the first week back was pretty hectic that way. And I tried to squeeze a little bit of fishing in, a little bit of relaxing, and now this week I'm back to practicing.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I've been deep-sea fishing, and pretty much dolphin. That's all I've caught in the couple times I've been out. The weather hasn't been too friendly as far as we're concerned. I don't have a big enough boat to be out there when it's windy; so the couple of times I've been out, I've caught a few dolphin.

KARRIE WEBB: It's not something I've ever really thought about. Some people like to just play until they run dry and then they have to start all over. But I always feel like I set my schedule up at the start of the year and I stick to it no matter what, if I'm playing good, if I'm playing bad. And I don't really think it's going to be a concern. I still feel really good about my game. I mean, the last tournament I played in I won. So I have all good feelings going in to next week.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I think, you know, if that was ever a proposal to either one of us, I think that we'd both be interested in it. But I think just -- I played with Tiger in '96 in the same group as him at the JCPenney, and his game was so young then compared to where it is now. I was in awe of his game then; so I'd like just to play alongside him and watch some of the shots he hits because it is pretty incredible.

KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I do think -- I think in most respects, it's a ball-strikers golf course. You know, some of the pins that they put on some of those greens, really have to be able to work the ball to get back to the pins. And last year, finally, the tournament got a bit of a break and they had good weather for the whole tournament, so I'm hoping that they get the same -- same fortune this year, because it's a great tournament and they really look after us, and it's a good golf course. So I feel really good going there. I do like the golf course, and as long as we're not, you know, wading around in a couple feet of water like we have a couple of times. But, you know, like I said last year, the course is in great shape and I'm looking forward to playing it again this year.

KARRIE WEBB: Yes, it is. Obviously the way the schedule has been, people are going to be eager to play this next week, and I'm one of those people looking forward to getting back out there. Obviously, I do get up more for the majors, but it's -- to me, it's trying to get into contention every week and having a contention to win that really gets me fired up. So hopefully I can do that next week and give myself a chance to win on Sunday.

KARRIE WEBB: I hate going in without any fish. That's like "Big Loser of the Day" if you don't catch any fish.

KARRIE WEBB: I guess just playing competitive golf every week and giving myself a chance to win golf tournaments.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I think it's really like giving someone a putting lesson. I think it's all down to how you feel about it and how comfortable you feel with it. You know, some people just love that sort of attention, and, really, enjoy being in the spotlight. And to those people, I don't really have any advice for them because they need to be giving me the advice. But to kids that are shy and not all that outgoing, I think, you know, it is really hard to give them advice, but to, you know, maybe just know that -- you know, that probably the people that are talking to you are -- you know, just as wary as you are -- wary of you as you are of them. So I think, you know, just to be yourself and not to be someone that you're not and to let anyone else make you into someone that you're not, I think just to be yourself and just go from there.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, as far as losing the tournament, I think I'm not the only one that would say -- I think the whole tour is definitely very disappointed because the support that we've had from the du Maurier themselves and the Canadian people at every tournament stop that we've had there, you know, have been so nice to us and so welcome to have us there, that it is a shame to see that we are going to lose that tournament. You know, it's through no one's fault but the government regulations. I know if it weren't for the government regulations, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. And being defending champion, I just feel very fortunate that I got to win not only my first major there, but I also got to win one time that the tournament was still around. In years to come, if the tournament doesn't continue to -- you know, I can be in the group of people that have said that they won a major playing at du Maurier.

KARRIE WEBB: Not really. Obviously the person who wins the first major of the year has the chance to win the Grand Slam. So Vijay Singh has got just as much chance as I have of winning the Grand Slam. But, you know, it's one of those things that you never say is impossible because it always can be done. But it's just one of those things that you have to peak at the right time four times in a year and you have to be suited to four golf courses. And with the du Maurier and the Open changing their courses every year, you've got to be able to -- you've got to be pretty lucky to have the four courses suit you all in one year and play well and actually win.

KARRIE WEBB: At least a million to one. I don't even know. (Laughs). I'm not much of a gambling person, but I would say at least a million to one.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, the LPGA Championship, I've never fared too well on that golf course. I've had a couple of good Top-10s there, but only because I'm played extremely well on the weekend. I've never really been in contention at that tournament. I've always pretty much shot myself out of it early on in the week. You know, hopefully things will be different this year when I go there. And just at least if I'm playing well going in there, you know, you never know. And then as far as the Merit Club at the Open, I played there a couple years ago and thought the course was great. I think the wind is going to be a big factor there. It just depends. When we played there a couple of years ago -- it's not going to be in any -- it's not even going to be close to the way the USGA is going to set up the rough and green speed and stuff like that. You know, I've seen the course, but as far as knowing how it's going to play that week is beyond me. And Royal Ottawa, there's a member here at Pine Tree at the club I practice at who is a member there also, and he's told me a little bit about it. But all I can do is play when I get to that week.

KARRIE WEBB: I have talked to her a little bit about it, and, you know -- and I already know how important it is for me to be able to do as much as I can for the Tour. You know, no one has done as much as Nancy has in that arena as far as pretty much bending over backwards to do all -- nearly all media requests that she's ever been asked to do. And just going back to that personality thing, that is something that I know Nancy Loves to do. She has just loved -- I'm sure there's times where she didn't enjoy it as much as some other times, but that's just been a part of her career that she really enjoyed doing. And I'm not saying that I don't overly -- that I don't enjoy it, it's not something that comes to me naturally. And I think to her, that smile that you see all the time, that's just a natural smile that comes to her face all the time. And it's just the person that she is.

KARRIE WEBB: Yes, it is pretty ironic that that does happen. You know, the way I've been playing golf and the success I've had, I really wouldn't want to change it for the world. Because to be playing, to work as hard as I do at my game and to have the rewards that I'm getting is something that, you know I wouldn't trade out for anything.

KARRIE WEBB: I think you have to be able to play a variety of shots there. You have to be able to work the ball off the tee a little bit and into the greens. And you know, I feel that I'm pretty capable of doing that, and I enjoy playing courses where it asks to you play different shots that.

KARRIE WEBB: I don't actually know why. Because going there my rookie year, everyone told me that course has set up very well for me, and they have told me that every year that I've played it, and I've just never played well there. Besides last year, the first three years I played it was cold and rainy. And growing up in humid summers of North Queensland in Australia, playing in cold weather is not -- out of any weather conditions, I'd rather have it raining and blowing a hundred miles an hour, as long as it's warm. And when it's cold, that is probably my least favorite condition to play in. You know, those first three years, it was cold and last year it just wasn't -- I missed the cut and I just wasn't -- you know it was just one of those weeks where, you know, I felt like I played or I just didn't score or I made bad mistakes at the wrong time, and, you know, that's just the way things go. You know, I can't put my finger on why I don't play that course that well because it should set up pretty well for me.

KARRIE WEBB: And that has been a good move for me as far as the weather is concerned. And hopefully -- hopefully, I'll be able to at least be in contention this year. That's my goal is to be in contention after the first couple of rounds.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I haven't spoken to him and I don't think there has been any discussions in the near future at least to have a match like that. I know that they are setting up another prime-time match between Tiger and Sergio. So as far as I know, there hasn't been any talk about that.

KARRIE WEBB: I don't know. I think it could work, but for me to hit the same club off the tee and to hit the same iron into a green, which is the only fair way to set p a golf course, it would look so ridiculous because he would hit it so much further than me. And you could put me forward enough on the tee that I'd hit it as far as him off the tee, but then if we're in the same position on the fairway, then it's -- we're not hitting the same club into the green. So I don't think you'd ever be able to set p a course that every single person that watched the tournament thought it was fair.

KARRIE WEBB: Mahi-mahi.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, they actually haven't been too big. The weather hasn't been conducive to catching a lot of fish, and I really haven't had -- the good weather conditions and enough time all in one day to actually to go out and there actually fish for a long period of time. And the dolphins or mahi-mahi aren't running real big at this time of year. They will start to get a little bigger in the next couple months.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I can't -- you know, I think the Gold Coast part of Queensland can argue that they have the best beaches in the world, and they do have the best beaches in the world. But coming from North Queensland, our beaches aren't that great. We can't swim in them most of the time because of the stingers. But just the weather, I think. Where I live in Florida, actually the weather is a lot like North Queensland, but the atmosphere in south Florida is a lot like the Gold Coast, and I've always been attracted to that part of Queensland, the Gold Coast. I thought if I were to live in Australia full-time, I'd probably live on the Gold Coast.

KARRIE WEBB: Thank you for your time.

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