Two in a Row for Karrie Webb

KARRIE WEBB RALLIED TO WIN the inaugural RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup on Sunday at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix. “I love coming out to the desert,” Webb said after closing with a 66 for a one-stroke victory over Brittany Lincicome and Paula Creamer. The Aussie’s scorecard included seven birdies and a bogey.

Webb ended a two-year win drought three weeks ago at the HSBC Champions in Singapore. Now she has claimed back-to-back titles. Impressive stuff. With 38 wins, seven of them majors, the 36-year-old Webb is already in the Hall of Fame.

Webb needed a chip and a putt to save her par on the 72nd hole. She hit a good one and sank the three-footer. Then she waited on the driving range as Lincicome came to the final hole needing a birdie to win, or a par to tie and force a playoff. Like Webb, Lincicome came up just short with her approach shot. Unlike Webb, Lincicome chipped 10 feet by the hole and missed the come-backer to lose by one.

More surprising was the fact that Lincicome didn’t know how she stood as she came to the final green. She doesn’t watch leaderboards—ever. “For some strange reason,” she said, “I had it in my mind that Cristie Kerr was running away with it.”

I can understand not watching leaderboards for most of a tournament—if that’s your mental makeup. But if you’re in contention on Sunday, I think you have to look at some point as you’re playing the back nine. That is, if you’re playing to win. How else are you going to know what you need to do?

After the round, Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez told Lincicome to start looking at the leaderboards. Constant scoreboard watcher Webb needs no such advice.

Webb’s victory total of $200,000 will go to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and Japan relief efforts.

Third-round leader Angela Stanford stumbled to a 75 to finish alone in fifth.

−The Armchair Golfer