Rookie first to million

Monday, Nov. 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Holding on to a share of the lead going into the final round of the ITT LPGA Tour Championship and being in position to become the first LPGA Tour player to win $1 million in a season made it awful hard for Karrie Webb to sleep Saturday night.

But the 21-year-old rookie shook off a severe case of the nerves, went out and toured the Desert Inn Golf Club in a dazzling 7-under-par 65 Sunday and won the sea son ending $700,000 event with a four-shot victory over three gol fers, including Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez.

As a result of her $150,000 payday, Webb pushed her season earnings to $1,002,000 and captured the season-long money title. It was Webb's fourth victory in a season in which she already had clinched the Rolex Rookie of the Year Award.

"When you know you need to play well to win the tournament and to achieve everything else, it definitely is a dream round," said Webb, who figures to cause plenty of sleepless nights for her opponents in the future. "I was nervous last night and I didn't sleep very well and I was pretty nervous (Sunday) morning."

Not nervous enough for her competitors. Webb began the day tied with Emilee Klein for the lead but stood alone at the top of the leaderboard with a two-shot edge after nine holes. Webb stretched her lead to three strokes with birdies on Nos. 10 and 11, remained three ahead of Klein with a birdie at No. 13 and secured the tournament with a spectacular eagle on the par-5 15th.

Becoming the first LPGA Tour player to hit the $1 million mark in earnings in a single season was never something Webb had sought to do when the tournament started, she said.

"At the start of the week, that was the furthest thing from my mind -- reaching a million dollars," the Australian said. "I was just concentrating on ... I knew I had to win the tournament to definitely guarantee winning the money list.

"Winning the tournament would mean that I would go over a million dollars, but my goal at the start of the week was never to do that, it was just to win the tournament. But it's great; no one can ever say that they're the first person to win a million dollars except me. That's a great feeling and it's always going to be in the record books as that."

A member of the media, who apparently hadn't watched Webb play, asked her what the strong point of her game was on Sunday.

"The strong points of my game today was everything," Webb replied. "There wasn't too many bad things; I hit the ball great and I putted very well. It was just a solid round of golf. Every time I looked up at my shot, it was going straight at the pin."

Perhaps her best shot of the day came at the 453-yard, par-5 15th. After a solid drive to the middle of the fairway, Webb was facing a 195-yard shot to the green. She hit a 4-iron to within 12 feet of the pin.

"When I was lining up my putt, I was thinking if I made that I would be four shots ahead with three holes to go and I thought that was pretty comfortable," Webb said.

She drained the uphill putt and, despite Klein's birdie on the same hole, extended her lead to four shots and coasted in.

"After that (eagle), I felt a little bit more relaxed, plus the players that were on 12 under, except for Emilee, had run out of holes," Webb said.

Laura Davies, who also was after the money title and a $1 million season, gave Webb cause to watch the leaderboard after starting her round with an eagle on the par-5 first hole.

"When Laura eagled the first hole, I thought she would go berserk," Webb admitted. But Davies struggled with her putter all day and finished with a 67 and tied for fifth place, five shots behind Webb.

Davies, the Rolex Player of the Year, had talked for weeks about how important winning the LPGA Tour money title was to her after she had won the earnings title on the European women's tour.

"That was the whole year, really," Davies said. "That would be more important than player of the year, by far. The money list is what everybody talks about ... and that's the big one for me.

"I thought when I eagled the first I had a chance, but then it was a string of missed putts."

Davies blew an opportunity to move to within two shots of Webb at the turn when she missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole. Both players birdied No. 10 and Davies remained three shots back.

Kelly Robbins, who started the day four shots behind Webb and Klein, also turned in a 65 Sunday and finished tied for second with Klein and Lopez.

"Once you see Karrie get a couple (shots) ahead, most of the time she's going to stay up there, so I was just trying to stick to my game and keep making birdies and maybe get them thinking a little bit," Robbins said.

"I was playing for second place, really. You realize coming in that they're probably not going to be caught and I told my caddy, 'Let's just keep the pressure on and see if we can squeeze in there and steal a little bit of money.'

"I just ran out of holes."

Lopez said she felt the same way as Robbins when she saw Webb open up a three-shot lead at the turn.

"Karrie was just tough," Lopez said. "You can't be too far behind her because you're not going to catch her the way she's playing and the way she has played.

"To finish tied for second, for me, was really great. It's nice to feel comfortable in that position again (because) I hadn't been there for a long time. The last few tournaments this year I've felt good and that's a good feeling."

Lopez, who has won 47 times during her 20-year career on the LPGA Tour, also has a good feeling about Webb.

"She's the type of player that, as a young player, could reach the Hall of Fame if that's what she wants to do," Lopez said. "I think she has the talent to do that. To win four tournaments on our tour is really a great accomplishment because there is so much competition out here now."

At least for this particular weekend, however, there proved to be very little competition for Webb.