Webb Gets Win Despite Sorenstam’s Charge

Karrie Webb showed her LPGA Tour peers a sure way to beat Annika Sorenstam: get six shots ahead and hang on.

Sorenstam certainly gave Webb a scare in the final round of the Longs Drugs Challenge Sunday in Danville, Calif., clawing away at her lead with a scoring flurry on Blackhawk Country Club’s hilly Lakeside Course, a new course for the tour.

Holding a five-stroke lead after a third-round 66, Webb parred the final five holes Sunday for a two-under-par 70 and a one-stroke victory over Sorenstam, the Swedish star who made things interesting with a 65.

Webb was definitely feeling the heat.

“I played very solidly for the pressure Annika was putting on in front of me,” Webb said. “I’m just very happy that I didn’t succumb to that.”

Webb won her LPGA Tour-leading fourth title of the year and pushed her career total to 34 -- 35 if you count her win in the 1995 Women’s British Open before she became an LPGA Tour member. The resurgent Australian star, inducted into the Hall of Fame last year, had a 15-under 273 total.

She earned $165,000 to remain second on the money list with $1,873,753.

While Webb dropped two strokes on the 155-yard, par-three seventh after hitting her tee shot into a lake, Sorenstam was making a move in the threesome ahead of her. By the time Sorenstam made a long eagle putt on the par-five ninth, Webb’s lead was down to two.

Morgan Pressel (68) finished at 12 under, and Lorena Ochoa (66), Cristie Kerr (68), Mi Hyun Kim (69) and Stacy Prammanasudh (68) followed at 10 under.

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Tennessee left-hander Eric Axley won the Texas Open for his first PGA Tour title, closing with a one-over 71 for a three-stroke victory in San Antonio.

Axley, 32, had a stretch of 53 consecutive holes without a bogey or worse on the par-70 Resort Course at LaCantera Golf Club.

The string ended with a double bogey on the 14th and he went on to finish at 15-under 265.

Three players finished at 12 under, including 21-year-old Anthony Kim of La Quinta, who was playing in his first PGA Tour event with a sponsor’s exemption.