November 11, 1999
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Q. Can you go over you card?
KARRIE WEBB: First birdie, hit a wedge to about 20 feet. 5, I hit my 53-degree wedge to
about six feet. 6, I hit 9-iron to about six feet. And 10, I hit 5-wood, short, left of
the trap and took it to about five feet. That's it.
Q. What did you hit on 14?
KARRIE WEBB: Well, 14, I was in the right fairway trap, right up the lip, and didn't
hit a very good shot, but actually, I felt like hit a better lay-up than I do when I'm
trying to and I had a perfect yardage for my 53-degree wedge and hit it to about six feet
there; so that was a good par.
Q. You've got one round in here. Are all of these races decided now, no matter how you
play?
KARRIE WEBB: I don't know. Obviously, I feel that I could shoot four 81s -- now I can
shoot an 85 one day (laughter). But I'm not really thinking about that. Obviously, I want
to play well this week, to have as low a scoring average as I possibly can and set the
record. But Player of the Year -- and I haven't even looked at it; so, I don't know what
can happen. I know that Juli has to win, and she's still in a position that she can do
that. But I just want to play well and whatever happens, happens. If Juli wins and I
finish whatever, and she wins Player of the Year, I'll be so happy for here because she's
had such a great year. It's a shame only one player can win because both of us have had
such a great year.
Q. If they had a secret ballot, whose name would you put down?
KARRIE WEBB: Obviously, I think anyone would want themselves to win it. But if I wasn't
involved in the race, I definitely would -- I think the sentimental favorite would be
Juli, and I think the majority of the TOUR now would say that they would vote for Juli,
and I wouldn't be hurt at all for that. I think it's the same thing that happened last
year with David Duval and Mark O'Meara. The sentimental vote went to Mark O'Meara when
they both had pretty close to equal, same year.
Q. Juli got into the Hall of Fame, (inaudible), does it bother you that what you've
accomplished this year, which has been terrific, getting somewhat lost in everything that
Tiger is doing on the other side?
KARRIE WEBB: That happened to me in 1996, too, with Tiger. I'm not really worried about
it. I'm very happy with the year that I've had. You know, I just -- I mean, it's up to all
of you guys to write. I can't really do anything about it. I've done what I've done. It's
-- it's -- I mean, what Tiger has done is absolutely unbelievable, and it should be. They
should be writing about him every day because, I mean, he has really impressed me this
year with the way his game has improved. You know, he deserves all of the attention that
he gets.
Q. You talked about being able to shoot four 81s; you are probably going to finish
about 69.45. Do you think you can do it again?
KARRIE WEBB: When my scoring average was as low as it was three quarters of the year, I
really wanted to shoot, to make it as low -- that was a goal of mine. I kept trying to
make it as low as I possibly could because even though I might -- myself, I might never
come close to it again, or I might break it next year. But I think that if I -- my goal
was to set it as low as I could, and then, you know, see how long it takes for someone or
myself to break it because records are meant to be broken, and no matter what scoring
average I have at the end of this year, someone is going to break it some day.
Q. Do you know KARRIE WEBB at all?
KARRIE WEBB: A little bit.
Q. She was in here earlier and she was talking about -- she lives basically all over
America, all over the world, and I wondered if you had gone through that in your career,
being from Australia?
KARRIE WEBB: No. I was pretty fortunate. When I came over here in 1996, I was planning
on playing the first few tournaments in Orlando and then finding a place to rent. And I
was probably going to rent in Orlando because I was good friends -- or still many good
friends with Stuart and Renay Appleby, and I won the second tournament; so it changed
everything, and I ended up buying a house.
Q. She doesn't seem to be concerned about it, but do you think that was important to
you?
KARRIE WEBB: Well, I did a year of it, in Europe, not having a base the year before,
and just hated it. I hated -- because the European schedule is so -- where you can play
three weeks on and have three weeks off. It's just so expensive. I was staying in, you
know, pubs for three weeks, on top of a pub for three weeks, and sharing a bathroom with
three other rooms that were on top of the pub and just stuff that I didn't want to have to
do again. I was going to find a base, no matter what, and was just fortunate enough that I
could actually buy a house.
Q. You mentioned Stuart. What did you think about him wearing Payne Stewart's clothes
the last tournament?
KARRIE WEBB: Well, I think, obviously, he was good friends with Payne. He traveled a
lot on his jet, and actually, I think was supposed to be on the jet at one stage, but
plans had changed. And I think he can -- could really relate to what Tracey was going
through. And I just think that -- I don't know if I could have done it, but, you know,
each to their own and people grieve in different ways.
Q. Did you know Payne Stewart?
KARRIE WEBB: No, I didn't know them very well.
Q. Do you travel by private jet at all?
KARRIE WEBB: Probably once or twice a year, if I'm lucky.
Q. What was it like playing with Juli today? Kind of apropos that you were playing on
the last day?
KARRIE WEBB: It was fun. It was unfortunate that Juli had food poisoning last night.
But I just love playing with her. We talked mostly today until we both started playing a
little scrappily coming in, and we both were just trying to get in as best we could. But
up until then, we chatted the whole day. I love rounds like that with her. If you play
with a good friend, it takes your mind off the job that you have to do, and sometimes
that's a good thing.
Q. What was the food poisoning; do you know?
KARRIE WEBB: I don't know. Something she ate. I don't know. I think it was veal or
something like that.
Q. Would it surprise you at all to see Se Ri win this week or play well?
KARRIE WEBB: It wouldn't surprise me to see any of the Top-30 win. Everyone here has
had good years to be in the Top-30, and I think everyone has a chance to win. Se Ri can
definitely -- is one of the best players out here, and it would not surprise me at all.
Q. Do you have any thoughts on -- about the Top 3 players or Top 4 players?
KARRIE WEBB: On the leaderboard?
Q. Yes?
KARRIE WEBB: I'm just trying -- Janice, Se Ri -- is it Lorie Kane at 4?
Q. There's a lot of foreign players near the top --?
KARRIE WEBB: Oh, foreign players. I haven't -- honestly, I know that there's only 11 or
12 Americans in the field this week. And I didn't notice that until we were introduced on
Tuesday night and someone said there's only 11 Americans here. I actually had not thought
about that. There's pretty good odds that a foreigner could win, with 19 foreigners here.
Q. Does it get to a point -- you live in south Florida, and Janice lives in five
different homes that you aren't foreigners anymore, that you all just live here?
KARRIE WEBB: I don't really feel -- I feel like, you know, the States is my second
home. I don't feel like -- I don't really feel like a foreigner. At certain times when I
talk to someone I've never spoken to before, like if I'm at a restaurant trying to order
and they notice my accent, and they don't listen to what actually I'm saying because they
are trying to work out where I'm from, but that's about the only time. But I love it over
here. And, you know, if I -- I mean, this would definitely be my second choice of where to
live, I think. Obviously, my ultimate, ultimate life would probably have the LPGA TOUR was
in Australia and I would be at home more often. And growing up, you knew that wasn't going
to be the case. I would have to be overseas somewhere, and the United States is the best
place out of all of the places I've been to.
Q. Now, when you finish your career, do you think you'll go back home to Australia to
live?
KARRIE WEBB: It's hard to say. It's hard for me to -- I'm only 24, 25, that's at least
15 -- at the least probably 15 years' time, and it's really hard to say what is going to
be happening at that part in my life. You know, I've lived 24 years, and 15 is two thirds
of that. So it's hard for me to imagine what I'm going to be like. It all depends on -- I
mean, in my personal life, if I had married an American and had kids over here, obviously,
I probably would live over here.
Q. (Inaudible)?
KARRIE WEBB: I was actually hitting pretty good when I went back there, and I was
hitting it better when I left. But it's always hard because now I've had three weeks off
from tournament golf, and it's just the first round to feel really comfortable on the golf
course.
Q. It's amazing to me how well your swing has held up start to finishing. How does that
happen?
KARRIE WEBB: I actually went through a stage where I wasn't hitting as well as I would
like, but most people probably would have taken it. But I was getting it up-and-down and,
you know, just getting a lot of good breaks. I think that's what happens when you have a
year like this. You know, I hit it in the trees on 15 today, and when I was walking up
there, I thought I was really going to have a tough lay up and I could hit a wedge down
there. And just certain things like that. I had -- I feel like sometimes in past years I
haven't had as many good breaks, definitely, as I've had this year. But you take the good
with the bad. But to answer your question, with my swing, I think I've used the computer
e-mail a lot more this year, and Carl has seen my swing a lot more.
Q. Is it digital?
KARRIE WEBB: Actually, my computer is broken right now. I probably have to get a new
computer, and probably I'll upgrade to a digital camera as well.
Q. Do you think you can afford it?
KARRIE WEBB: Maybe. I have to play well this week.
End of FastScripts
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