Australia’s greatest Major champion has won her first event in more than eight years, taking out the Senior LPGA Championship in Kansas by four strokes.
Paired with great rival Annika Sorenstam and Round 1 leader Lisa DePaulo in the final group at Salina Country Club, Webb’s two-stroke lead at the start of the final round vanished inside one hole, Sorenstam’s eagle setting up another classic duel.
Webb responded with a birdie at three to assume a one-shot advantage before the pair both traded birdies at the par-3 fourth.
A bogey at six saw Webb fall back level with Sorenstam again at 10-under before the Hall of Famers pushed out to 11-under with birdies at seven.
Webb again edged one stroke ahead with a birdie at eight but Sorenstam’s birdie at nine saw them head to the back nine level at 12-under.
From there it was all Webb.
The seven-time Major champion picked up birdies at 10 and 12 to pull away, the clincher coming with an eagle at the par-5 14th.
That gave the 47-year-old a three-stroke lead with four holes to play, Sorenstam’s dropped shots at 15 and 17 giving Webb a four-stroke buffer playing the final hole.
Respective pars would secure a four-stroke win – Webb’s first in more than eight years – and solidify that a comeback that was never a comeback is now so much more.
Webb has confirmed her intention to play the Women’s Australian Open at Victoria Golf Club in December and given that was the site of her fifth national championship triumph must now be considered a genuine threat.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had to make putts down the stretch to win a golf tournament,” laughed Webb. “The mouth was getting dry and the little putts were seeming a little bit longer.”
Yet the qualities that made her a seven-time major champion once again came to the fore.
Head-to-head battles between Webb and Sorenstam were rare at the height of her rivalry, swarms of people flooding into Salinas Country Club to see the Hall of Famers go toe-to-toe one more time.
“It was kind of a game-on moment,” said Webb when Sorenstam chipped in at one.
“Once that went in, I was like, All right here we go. I just knew I had to play my best golf.
“I’m not used to playing golf with adrenaline. It was hard to know how far I was hitting it, so it was a bit of a guessing game, but I think I did pretty good overall with it.”
As Webb returned to the winner’s circle it proved to be a challenging week for the Aussies at The Amundi Evian Championship.
Defending champion Minjee Lee never really threatened, Sarah Kemp dropped back into the pack over the course of the weekend and no Australian player finished inside the top 30 as Brooke Henderson completed a wire-to-wire victory.
A final round of five-under 66 and a share of 31st was a positive end to Stephanie Kyriacou’s week, West Australian Hannah Green (68) gong sub-70 in each of her final three rounds to also finish tied for 31st at seven-under.
