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WEGMANS LPGA CHAMPIONSHIPJune 5, 2013Karrie WebbPITTSFORD, NEW YORK THE MODERATOR: Last week's winner at the shop right LPGA Classic, 39 victories overall and seven‑time Major Champion and winner here, Karrie, thanks very much for being here. Let's talk about last week first of all and your thoughts now that it's probably sunk in a little bit more than maybe it did that Sunday night. What was the feeling, how emotional was it for you? KARRIE WEBB: It was a great feeling obviously. You know, I felt like I was building, so I don't feel like it sort of same out of the blue. I won back in Singapore in 2011 and felt like it was a bit of a surprise, but I felt like it was coming. I was just glad to play a great round of golf on Sunday, and it's always nice to get a win under the belt. THE MODERATOR: I think it's fair to say you're a fairly emotional person on the golf course; on the golf course, you're calm and calculated about how you play the game. Afterwards, it was emotional and you dedicated the victory to your grandmother. Do you want to share a little bit about that? KARRIE WEBB: Well, talked to my grandmother on Wednesday and Thursday, she made a miraculous recovery, and she's going to get out of the hospital by the end of the week. Wasn't looking like that last week. And still on Sunday, I didn't realize, when I spoke to her Sunday night, I realized how much better she was getting. I spoke to her son Thursday and she didn't sound like she had much longer and Sunday night she sounded normal again. I don't know if my win had as much to do with it, but I know she was chuffed that I dedicated it to her. The MODERATOR:  So what was that phone call like? KARRIE WEBB: Well, she knew my dad had gone to visit here. She had not found out until he got there, and then she was mad that she was in hospital and didn't get to see it on TV. So, they are going to try and find it for her so she can watch it. THE MODERATOR: You mentioned the victory and you felt like it was building. You had not won in more than two years, but yet you had been consistent and consistently in contention without winning tournaments. So how did you stay positive during that stretch, and how big a victory is this for you when you kind of put your career in perspective, having been out here for a number of years? KARRIE WEBB: You know, I had a pretty consistent year last year. I gave myself a number of chances in the second half of the year. And I felt good about how my season ended, and you know, it started off great.  I won in Australia at the Australian Masters, and then I've contended in a couple of events, a couple of Top‑10s or three Top 10s before last week. My most recent tournament was in Mobile and I had a chance to win on Sunday. So I knew it wasn't far away. I really felt good in Mobile, and to pull it off last week, a tournament I've never really contended in, was great. THE MODERATOR:  Were you kicking yourself in the back side because you didn't win in Mobile? KARRIE WEBB: I wasn't. I shot 19‑under for the week, so it's not often you shoot 19‑under and don't win a tournament. You can always do the what if, but I felt like my game was in the right place and coming into good shape for the heart of the season. Q. With 14 and 15‑year‑olds qualifying for the U.S. Open, how do you stay on top? KARRIE WEBB: I guess I don't really look at the age thing. I know what I'm capable of and I know that's good enough to win out here. I don't really look at the person I'm playing and their age. It's more their ability to play the game. And girls are coming out here at a young age and do have the ability to play at an elite level and win out here, but I still believe that I can do that, as well. So I don't really look at the age thing too much. Q. What do you attribute that to, that they are coming out so good, so young now? KARRIE WEBB: I think they have grown up with the best technology. I grew up, still had wooden woods and I actually still‑‑ I started with a small golf ball and went to the big golf ball. I've seen a lot of technology in the years that I've played golf. I think technology; one. Two, coaching is so much better now. There's just so many more resources now for good coaching. And three, girls are training as athletes for golf, and I never trained as an athlete as a kid. I just went and beat balls all afternoon after school. So a more sophisticated training system in place for a lot of the girls. Q. 19‑under won two years ago and 6‑under last year; what are we closer to this year? Is this course really playing as hard as some of the girls I talked to yesterday said? KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, the rough is as long as I've seen it. Last year the rough was pretty long. I think it will depend on the weather. If we get‑‑ well, I heard two inches of rain tomorrow from someone, I don't know if that's true or not but it will really depend on the weather. If it does rain, the rough is not going to get any less thick or less long. So, it's going to be tough. I don't like to set scores. Last week, I wouldn't have told you I would have won on 4‑under. I don't like to set scores. I just like to go out there and manage the golf course as best I can. Q. What do you see on the greens? A couple of the girls said they are faster than they have ever been; in your practice round yesterday, what did you see? KARRIE WEBB: I think the greens are in the best shape I've ever seen them. They are definitely faster than they have been. I wouldn't say‑‑ I don't know the girls that you talked to, but I've been playing here since '97 or whatever, and they have been this fast before, but not for the last few years. THE MODERATOR: You were talking about equipment and the golf ball, and recently all the conversation about anchoring and that sort of stuff with the USGA's decision, if you could change one thing right now, is there something that stands out for you? KARRIE WEBB: I guess as far as technology goes, the golf ball has been the biggest change. It wasn't that long ago 2001, that I was still playing‑‑ I had not got into the new technology then; it was so much better and the following year. I switched to the Pro V1 and felt like I was cheating. I would hang a shot right on a left‑to‑right wind and it was hanging there, the balata ball, and you know, the golf ball has only gotten better since then and so it would be the golf ball as far as technology goes. THE MODERATOR: Conditions last week were as tough as the LPGA has had all year long and it was a battle of stamina and mental ability to stay in the present. Did that help you? Did you feel like once it started blowing a gale out there that things were going to kind of come your way? KARRIE WEBB: Well, it was blowing a lot earlier than it had the previous two days, and so it was already quite windy on the range, so I knew it was going to be a tough day before I even teed off. You know, I knew that having a three‑shot lead that Shanshan had would not feel too comfortable out there because it could go in a heartbeat. I just felt like if I got off to a good start in the first few holes, that that would really set the tone for me, and you know, hopefully get me within earshot and I was 3‑under through three and I think Shanshan, I don't know where she bogeyed early on but I was only one shot behind all of a sudden. Q. Inaudible. KARRIE WEBB: When we were paired together, we always brought out the best in each other and this was just‑‑ my best example is we played a Shell's Wonderful World of Golf TV match in Las Vegas and I think it was in 2001, Miky was working for me, and neither of us had seen the course but the guys had gone out and walked it. TV matches are supposed to be‑‑ you're mic'd up and chatty and we were all about beating each other. I shot 64 and she shot 65. Golf Channel plays that every now and then. That's just the sort of golf we brought out in each other. I don't think there was ever too many times where one of us didn't play well together when we were paired together. Obviously we did go head‑to‑head a lot. You know, it was a fun time but we were trying to beat each other. I think you can look back and appreciate it more now than when you were in the middle of it. THE MODERATOR: Do you feel like that competition exists on the Tour now? KARRIE WEBB: I guess it does exist. I don't think it's been consistent, though. I don't think there's been two or three players consistently paired together in the last round. There's probably been four or five players over the last five years that have been up there, and well Lorena would have been in the last five years, but Yani and Stacy Lewis, Suzann Pettersen has played consistently well. But there's probably not players that have gone head‑to‑head that often. THE MODERATOR: Does the LPGA need that? Does the LPGA need a dominant player‑‑ KARRIE WEBB: If she's up there and I don't know who it would be, any number of the top young players that she's going head‑to‑head against, I think that would be good for women's golf. Q. You've won seven Majors; if you won this week, you would take over the active lead of Majors from your friend, Juli Inkster, who has also won seven. Is that the kind of thing that matters to you? When you sit down at the end of your career to have been an active leader of Majors, I think all golfers, that's what you measure yourself on. KARRIE WEBB: Actually, I wouldn't have known that. I wouldn't have even known that Juli and I were tied to be honest. But it's not something that I set out to do. I would like to add to that number just for myself personally. I hold the majors as the five most important tournaments of the year and I want to add to that title before I finish up. Q. The players who are No. 1 in the world who are considered the player at the time, when some of them struggle with the responsibilities of just being in that position, you could see her struggling and retiring at an early age; Rory McIlroy at No. 1; Yani at No. 1; can you look back and talk about what it is like to be the player and the pressures and challenges of that? KARRIE WEBB: Well, I actually‑‑ I never verbally spoke of how hard it was for me, but when Yani was speaking about it earlier in the year when Stacy took over No. 1, I totally got what she was saying. And probably not even to the extent that she has a whole country riding on her performance every week, as well. It's a big responsibility. You know, I didn't handle the off‑course stuff very well at all. I think being on the golf course was my savior, but I think it that also the pressures of off‑course made me not appreciate and enjoy what I was doing because I didn't‑‑ at 21, I was supposed to be the face of the LPGA and a personality that everyone wanted to ride with, and I apparently wasn't. It was very hard for me to deal with that off the golf course. Also, just going from being someone that no one knew and to being well known, I was quite a shy person when I came over here, so it was a huge adjustment for me and I was living in a different country, as was Yani, but it was overwhelming, my desire to play golf got me through most of those years, but at some point I started wishing to be No. 1 and not No. 1. When Yani sort of said that she was glad to be No.2, I was in the back of my mind saying, be careful what you wish for, because I wouldn't‑‑ I would like to have continued to play the golf I played but I think subconsciously, I backed off the pedal a little bit because I wasn't really enjoying everything that came with it. THE MODERATOR: You're No. 8 in the world right now, the Rolex Rankings, are you as proud of that given where you are in your career at this point? Does that say a lot for you. KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, it's always great to be in that Top‑10 number. I don't really look at where I'm ranked rather than how I'm playing, and I think how I'm playing will determine my rank. You know, wherever that puts me, as long as I'm playing well, I'm happy with that. THE MODERATOR: Couple of other questions, Stacy Lewis was here yesterday and I mentioned she spoke highly of you and she also talked interestingly enough what you were just discussing, learning the ropes and being a highly‑ranked player and everyone wanting a piece of you. One thing she talked about you, that you are the best in the world at course management and that players have learned things from you. Do you feel that's the strength many of your game and given what one of the questions was about the setup this week does that play right into your hands? KARRIE WEBB: I guess I've never really thought about it. I guess I look at it as I've gotten older, I have a better understanding of my abilities and what I'm capable of, and capable of that day; whether I'm firing on all cylinders or I'm not quite there, I have an understanding of how I'm going to be able to putt a score together that day. And I for the most part manage my emotions better than when I was younger. Q. Does the idea of getting a sixth major motivate you? And what do we call that? KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I'll leave that up to you. Q. Six‑pack? KARRIE WEBB: That's Craig's job, actually. Yeah, obviously it does. But again, like I said, all five of the Majors this year‑‑ if I can add one, that would be tremendous. Q. Just to follow on that, this is one of the oldest questions in golf but hardly anyone has the perspective that you do on it. What is it about winning a major, or what is that extra something that it takes to win a major, as opposed to winning any other week? KARRIE WEBB: Well, generally, when we are playing a major, the courses are more difficult than on a regular week. And I think you need to manage your emotions and your patience that week more than anything, and I think‑‑ you know, I do it well sometimes and not others. Like being asked to set a score, sometimes even though I'm not actually verbally telling you, I have it in my head, and might get off to a bad start on Thursday and think, oh, you know, I've now got to press to catch up; when at end of the week, the winning score was way higher than I thought it was going to be. If I would have just hung in there, I could have had a shot on Sunday. It's all about understanding that, and I think last week was difficult, and I just said to myself, it's difficult for everyone, and as long as you believe that that's happening to everybody, you know, I feel like I can manage my emotion through all that. Q. What's the state of youth golf back in Australia? How would you gauge it right now? KARRIE WEBB: I haven't been back to Australia since Adam won the Masters, but I know that interest has tremendous and that's only going to help golf. Adam Scott is going to be what Greg Norman was to me; Adam Scott won the Masters and Greg lost, or came in second, but I think Adam Scott will be that for the next generation of kids for sure. I know that golf in Australian is working on grass roots golf and they are really putting a lot of time and effort into women's golf, and I really appreciate that. I have a scholarship program that we work in conjunction together with, and actually two of my scholarship winners, one is alternate this week, and one is playing this week, Julia, proud of all of them and they are doing all quite well. THE MODERATOR: We are about a year away from the first ever International Crown, and Australia is currently fifth in the standings and you area top the list of the potential winners who would play. My last question to you is: How much will that mean for Australia to play in something like that, and are you looking forward to being a part of a competition given that you could not play the Solheim Cup? KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I think it will be fun. The team next year will be a lot of fun competing. You know, it will be a blast. Really looking forward to it. Q. Can you talk about what this place means to you and your history and relationship with it? KARRIE WEBB: I feel like I have a love/hate relationship with it. I either play really well here or I struggle with my emotions and patience, even when we play a regular event here. It's a course that always requires a lot of patience, and the weeks that I'm on top of that are the weeks that I've done pretty well. THE MODERATOR:  Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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