A Webb of Intrigue at the Dinah Shore

Here are two good reasons why Karrie Webb won’t win the Nabisco Dinah Shore:

1. Because Webb has won three of her last four tournaments, she’s already overdrawn at the good-luck bank.

2. She’s 0 for 12 in majors.

Here are two good reasons why Webb is a cinch to win the Nabisco Dinah Shore:

1. Webb has won three of her last four tournaments, and the only thing hotter than she is right now is the green sauce at the Adobe Grill.

2. She can swim, which means she can leap into that fetid pond at the 18th green at Mission Hills and worry only about being attacked by algae and not drowning.

So when the year’s first major begins today at Mission Hills Country Club, the 24-year-old Australian is either the prohibitive favorite or an absolute underdog. Take your pick.

Chances are, Webb is going to be right there on Sunday with a shot to win for the fourth time in seven weeks on the LPGA Tour. No one has played better than Webb this year, not with three victories, a second, a seventh and an eighth in six tournaments. Actually, Webb probably could have won a couple of more times this year, but she decided to take two weeks off and let somebody else have a turn.

So far, Webb has dominated the LPGA landscape like no one else in 19 years. She is the first player to win three of the first eight tournaments since JoAnne Carner won four of the first eight in 1980.

Last week at the Standard Register Ping, Webb was 14 under par and won by four shots over Lorie Kane. She took the Australian Ladies Masters title two weeks before with a record-setting 26 under par that won by 10 shots.

“It’s pretty unbelievable,” she said. “I hope it carries into this week.”

If it does, then Webb can start doing the backstroke already.

It has been cash and Karrie to begin the year. Webb is the No. 1 money winner with $419,063, she’s first in the player-of-the-year standings, first in scoring, first in rounds under par, first in birdies and second in greens in regulation.

Other than that, she has been a washout.

The $127,500 Webb earned last weekend for her victory at Phoenix meant she passed $3 million in winnings faster than anyone else--three years, two months, seven days--and also meant she passed $400,000 in season winnings faster than anyone else--six tournaments.

Webb also is getting the ball in the hole faster than anyone else, thanks in part to a change in her putting style. She went to a cross-handed method in November when she finished No. 49 in the putting statistics. Webb is No. 9 this year.

But as good as she has been, Webb still has to deal with a troubling omission on her resume. No active player has won more times (12) without winning a major. The all-time leader in that department is Jane Blalock, who won 27 times.

Webb has six top 10s in the majors and came close in her rookie year when she finished tied for second with Nancy Lopez at the 1996 du Maurier, which Laura Davies won.

The Nabisco Dinah Shore is Webb’s next chance--she tied for seventh last year.

“Winning a major is a career goal for me,” Webb said.

“If I don’t win, I can’t look back and say how disappointed I am with the start I’ve had. I have plenty of majors to come.”

And the first one in that list begins today at Mission Hills, the 6,460-yard layout where Pat Hurst broke through last year and won her first major title. Hurst, who either led or was tied for the lead each round, is expecting a baby in late May and said she doesn’t figure to be much of a factor.

Speaking of factors, two players who dominated the LPGA in 1998 are on the scene and looking for something like what happened a year ago.

Annika Sorenstam, who led the money list, won the Vare Trophy and was player of the year, is winless in four events. And Se Ri Pak, who won two majors and two others last year in her first season on the tour, has missed three cuts and finished better than 18th only once in seven events.

As with most of the other players this year, at least she got out of Webb’s way.

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Nabisco Dinah Shore

* Where: Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage (6,460 yards, par 72).

* When: Today through Sunday.

* Prize money: $1 million ($150,000 to winner).

* TV: Today and Friday, 1-3 p.m. ESPN; Saturday, 1:30-3 p.m., Channel 7; Sunday, 1-3 p.m. Channel 7.

* Defending champion: Pat Hurst, seven-under 281.

* Tournament record: Amy Alcott, 15-under 273 (1991).