It’s easy to figure out why Karrie Webb considers the JTBC Founders Cup a special event. First off, the Australian World Golf Hall of Famer is the only two-time winner of the event. Secondly, she cherishes the history of the LPGA that is celebrated every year at this event.
A small slice of that special feeling was displayed last year. After two rounds, Webb was nowhere near the lead but received a phone call from LPGA founder Louise Suggs, who suggested that Webb needed a 64 to get back in the hunt. Webb delayed the magic for a day, shooting a third-round 69 before sprinting to the finish and the win with a final-round, course-record 63 that included birdies on six of the final eight holes, and a 20-footer on the final green to reach 19-under par.
Following her victory, Webb donated $50,000 of her $225,000 winner’s check to LPGA-USGA Girls Golf ($25,000) and to “The Founders” film ($25,000), which is a documentary that is being shot about the 13 LPGA founders.
Here are a couple of career achievements that show Webb’s long string of success which continues this season at age 40:
Career victories: Webb has won 41 times in her LPGA career, in a tie for 10th with Babe Zaharias. Here are the top-10 winners in LPGA history:
| Kathy Whitworth | 88 |
| Mickey Wright | 82 |
| Annika Sorenstam | 72 |
| Louise Suggs | 61 |
| Patty Berg | 60 |
| Betsy Rawls | 55 |
| Nancy Lopez | 48 |
| JoAnne Carner | 43 |
| Sandra Haynie | 42 |
| Karrie Webb | 41 |
| Babe Zaharias | 41 |
Webb has won at least one tournament annually in 14 of her 19 complete seasons on the LPGA, beginning in 1996.
Career earnings: Webb has earned $19,300,014 in her career, second only to Annika Sorenstam ($22,573,192). With her continued consistency, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Webb surpass Sorenstam in the next couple years. In the last 10 years, the least amount of one-season earnings for Webb was $479,889. This season, she has made four starts with finishes of T16, T11 and T21 in the last three.
Lewis’ place
Stacy Lewis hasn’t won the LPGA since last June’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, but this week’s course, Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix, should increase of her chances of getting in the winner’s circle again.
In the last two years, Lewis is 41-under par at Wildfire with a victory in 2013 (23-under par) and a T2 last year. In four starts at the event, Lewis is 51-under par and has three top-10 finishes. She is also riding a streak of 12 consecutive rounds under par – seven of the last eight at 68 or below – and has never shot an over-par round in 16 trips around the course. Her 23-under-par total in 2013 is the tournament record by four strokes.
Rookie stage
Last year at the JTBC Founders Cup, experience trumped youth as Karrie Webb won the title. But just behind Webb in a tie for second were rookies Lydia Ko and Mirim Lee. They finished at 18-under par, one behind Webb. They also placed first (Ko) and second (Lee) in the Rolex Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year competition at season’s end.
More could be in store for this week. South Korea’s Sei Young Kim is the current top rookie, with a victory at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic and a ranking of fourth in the Race to the CME Globe and the Rolex Player of the Year standings. Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn is second in the rookie standings, seventh in the Player of the Year and second in Driving Distance.
Ko back for more in the desert
If not for Karrie Webb’s course-record, final-round 63 last year, Lydia Ko may have won her first title as a professional at the JTBC Founders Cup. Ko held the third-round lead but was bypassed when Webb came racing home for the victory.
The top-ranked player in the world has gone 23 consecutive rounds under par worldwide (and 20 on the LPGA) after her runner-up finish at the HSBC Women’s Champions two weeks ago. She began the run with a 2014 LPGA season-ending victory at the CME Globe Championship and includes the New Zealand Women’s Open on the Ladies European Tour three weeks ago. She has finished in the top nine in nine consecutive starts, including three wins, a second, a T2 and a third. She also shot her career low round, a second-round 61, in winning in New Zealand.
Ko has never missed a LPGA cut, as an amateur or professional, in 46 career starts.
Etc.
The 36-hole Wildfire Golf Club will use nines from each of its courses for this week’s event – nine from the Palmer Course and nine from the Faldo Course. … The Golf Channel will televise all four rounds, with the following air times: Thursday, 6-9 p.m., EDT; Friday, 6-8 p.m.; Saturday, 7-9; and Sunday, 7-9.
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