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No planning for this Webb's crowning glory is also one of her darkest days
WILMINGTON, Del. -- According to her mother, Karrie Webb has always been a planner. As a kid growing up in Ayr, Australia, Webb would meticulously organize her schedule so she could complete her school work, play golf and still have time to hang out with her mates. So when Webb asked her parents, Robert and Evelyn, to fly to the United States last week for the McDonald's LPGA Championship, they weren't surprised. This was Webb's way of planning on winning her fifth career major, thereby becoming the youngest woman to complete the career Grand Slam.
Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans don't always turn out perfectly. Webb did win the McDonald's LPGA Championship in commanding fashion over Laura Diaz, though her dominance over the field wasn't necessarily indicated by the two-shot margin of victory. But her mom and dad didn't get to sip any champagne. After trudging around the golf course for three days, they weren't anywhere to be found when Webb hoisted the trophy. At about 1 a.m. Sunday morning, the family received a phone call with troubling news: Mick Collinson, Evelyn's father, who had suffered a stroke earlier in the week, had taken a turn for the worse. After an all-night discussion, many tears and not much sleep, the Webbs, Karrie included, booked a 12:30 p.m. flight back home. "I was pretty close to not even playing today," Webb said after the final round, shocking the entire press room. "I did it for my granddad, and I know that it might not help out the situation, but my grandma told me on Thursday that she wanted me to win it for him." "My father spoke to all of my mom's family, and they all said that Granddad would not have wanted me to come home just yet," said Webb of the man who introduced her to the game of golf. "So the fact that my whole family said that I should play, that's what changed my mind." When Webb knocked in the final putt, she turned to the camera and said, "Granddad, this one's for you." As a little girl on Sundays, Webb, using her designer set of plastic clubs, would tag along with Mick and grandmother Joyce on the course and play about three holes. She would then ride the remaining holes on her grandfather's bag as he tugged it along on a pull cart. "They were about the only two people in the world who were patient enough to go out with a four-year-old and play golf on a Sunday morning," said Webb, who needed a minute to collect herself before telling the story. So while Webb had hoped to have this great celebration with her parents on hand, she was left alone to try and explain why this extraordinary achievement was one of the toughest days of her life. "I am at a little loss for words," she said. "This is, obviously, something -- this tournament is obviously a tournament I've wanted to win, and obviously this year I've thought about trying to win this tournament to complete the career Grand Slam. Just right now, it doesn't really mean a whole lot to me." Though it's unfortunate her parents missed witnessing history, they always knew their little Karrie was going to do something great with her life. On her 12th birthday, in 1986, Webb grabbed the first peek at her future, attending the Queensland Open near her hometown. She came home with a Greg Norman autograph and a vision. "She told us that she was going to be a professional golfer," said Evelyn, who keeps all of the articles about Karrie's achievements in scrapbooks; she is on No. 13 and counting. "We said that was fine. If that is what you want to do then we will support you." "'When she told us that I never once doubted her," Robert added. Soon after meeting her new hero, Webb was picked to be one of the princesses in the town's annual Water Festival. As tradition goes, the little girls of this tiny community of just 8,000 were paraded on a stage, where they said their names and their life's ambitions. "One says she wants to be a doctor, and one says she wants to be a teacher, and then Karrie gets up there and says she is going to be a professional golfer," Robert remembered. "Everyone was like, Great, but what they really wanted to say was, 'Yeah, you come from this little country town. Hell, you're never going to be a professional golfer.'" For the record, Webb wasn't named Queen of the Water Festival. But then again, that wasn't part of her plans. Tom Hanson, a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section,
is a longtime caddie on the LPGA Tour. Click here
to send him a question or comment.
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