Rising Stars Fall as Webb Rallies for LPGA Victory

The stage was set in a made-for-television final group at the Kraft Nabisco Championship: Three of the LPGA Tour’s brightest rising stars battling not only for the year’s first major, but also to prove their worth as golfers.

But veteran Karrie Webb, with something of her own to prove, delayed the coronation.

Webb stole the show Sunday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage when she made a steady climb into contention, delivered a thunderous blow on the 18th hole and made a birdie on the first playoff hole to become an unlikely winner in a compelling tournament that provided plenty of 72nd-hole theatrics.

Webb began the day seven shots out of the lead in a tie for sixth, but fashioned one of the finest final rounds in LPGA major championship history -- a 65, capped by a holed-out wedge shot for eagle on the par-five 18th -- then defeated Lorena Ochoa on the same hole for her 31st career victory and seventh major title.

It marked a rise from two years of mediocrity for Webb, an LPGA Hall of Fame member and former world No. 1 who went through the first winless season of her 10-year career in 2005 and hadn’t won a major since the 2002 Women’s British Open.

“I feel pretty lucky to be here,” said Webb, a 31-year-old Australian who sipped a beer from her homeland during a post-round news conference. The victory “is definitely one in 30, 40 years when I’m thinking about my career, it’s definitely one that’s going to stick out in my memory.”

The frenzied finish will probably stick in the minds of those who witnessed it as well.

Michelle Wie, the 16-year-old prodigy looking for her first professional victory, and Natalie Gulbis, golf’s glamour girl who is also winless, were playing with Ochoa, a three-time winner seeking her first major title, in a final grouping filled with young players on the verge of stardom.

All three, however, missed golden opportunities.

Wie trailed by one and sat 30 feet from an eagle that would have won the tournament, but her chip ran 12 feet past the hole. Her birdie attempt to tie lipped out and she finished tied for third after a final-round 70 left her at eight under -- one behind Webb.

Gulbis, also trailing by one, hit her approach to within 15 feet on the 18th, but her slippery birdie putt slid four feet past and she made par for a final-round 68 that tied her with Wie. That set the stage for Ochoa, who trailed by two, but hit a five-wood shot to within eight feet on the island green 18th and made the eagle putt to force a playoff.

Webb and Ochoa both hit through the green with their second shots on the playoff hole. Ochoa chipped 12 feet past the hole and didn’t make the putt. Webb hit a soft flop shot that trickled to within six feet and drained it for a win that rekindled a competitive fire that Webb acknowledges had been smoldering.

“It’s great for my confidence that I know I can do this again,” Webb said. “I still battle the same demons I’ve been battling for a while, but this is definitely going to put a foot in the right direction and give me a little bit of a belief.”

Ochoa, who began the day with a three-shot lead and had led the tournament since a sizzling opening-round 62, was done in by a balky driver on the back nine. She missed the fairway on Nos. 12, 13 and 15 and made bogeys on each after having to hack out of the thick rough.

“I think my driver killed me,” Ochoa said. “I was in really bad places. I did the best I could from those situations, but it was tough.”

As for Wie, a trip down victory lane will have to wait. She played admirably, closing a three-shot lead, but she chose to chip her eagle attempt on the 18th, playing aggressively for the win, instead of trying to cozy a putt and get in a playoff.

“I thought I had more chance of making it chipping,” she said. “Obviously I was thinking I could make it. Unfortunately it got away from me.”

The third-place finish is Wie’s third consecutive top-three finish in an LPGA major. It’s also gives her two third-place finishes in three tournaments since turning professional in October.

In her pro debut, she was disqualified for taking an improper drop. This week, she said, was a success.

“I’m happy with the way I played in my first major as a professional, I guess,” she said. “If I don’t get disqualified in the next five minutes, I think I’ll get some money.”

Wie gets $108,222, to be exact. Webb will receive the winner’s check of $270,000, which is more than half of the $500,268 she made last year when she finished a career-worst 27th on the season money list.

Hers was the biggest final-round comeback in a major championship since Patty Sheehan came from seven shots behind at the 1983 LPGA Championship, and her 65 was the lowest final-round score by a Kraft Nabisco winner since the tournament became a major in 1983.

But the round probably will be remembered for its final shot, the pitching wedge from 116 yards that hopped, skipped and trickled into the cup and allowed Webb to post a two-shot lead at nine under.

Webb needed no pause to grasp the moment and immediately raced toward her caddie, leapt into his arms, then let out a scream and delivered an uppercut fist pump that would put Tiger Woods to shame.

“When it went in, I just couldn’t believe it,” Webb said. “I think my heart just about jumped out of my chest, because it was aching for about five minutes after.”