Karrie Webb - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Music playing  00:00

Mike Gonzalez  00:15

Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin, on a day when we released the life story of one 7-time major winner, we're talking to another. And this woman could certainly be in the conversation for being one of the greatest players, male or female to have ever played the game.

Devlin, Bruce  00:34

Well, there's no question about that. And you're always the one that does all the statistics, but her career fascinated me she had 56 victories in the 20-year span from 96 to 2015. She played in 441 golf tournaments, made the cut in 415 of them, which is a 94% Make the Cut streak. During that time, she had 40 wins with seven majors. But I say nine majors because she won two Ladies British Opens before they were majors. And from a money standpoint, she just made about $18,730,343 An average $936,517 A year and what a thrill to have with us today, as Mike said, one of the greatest players that ever played this game Karrie Webb, welcome.

Webb, Karrie  01:37

Thank you guys. Thanks for having me on. Glad to have you.

Mike Gonzalez  01:41

You can tell how excited Bruce is for this particular chat with you because, boy, he's done a lot of homework here.

Webb, Karrie  01:51

Well, I appreciate that Bruce. Fellow as he's gonna stick together.

Devlin, Bruce  01:55

That's right. We do. 

Mike Gonzalez  01:57

Yeah, we could have started this Ozzy Ozzy and let you guys gonna reply. So Karrie, you've shared with us that you've listened to a few of our episodes. And so you kind of know the drill we start at the very beginning and telling your story. And I guess that starts in Ayr. Not to be confused with Ayrshire in Scotland but in Ayr, Queensland Australia. So tell us a little bit about early life there for you.

Webb, Karrie  02:25

Yet well seen as a bought up Ayrshire, Ayr in North Queensland, Australia was named after Ayr in Scotland. So there is there is a connection there. But growing up and Ayr you know, I it was it's a small farming town, sugar cane town and second major crop there is mangoes. So my family weren't farmers. But you know, the lifeblood of the town was the success or the sugar price on the world market every year. So if it was a good year for sugar prices, and the town flourished. If it wasn't then a town struggled.

Mike Gonzalez  03:09

So what did your folks do?

Webb, Karrie  03:11

My dad had his own building company. And my mom. For most of my schooling years worked for my grandparents who owned a toy shop and a gift store in the main street.

Mike Gonzalez  03:25

Sporting family,

Webb, Karrie  03:28

sporting family. Yeah. Well, I think mom and dad played a lot of sport growing up, but they my parents and my grandparents, my mom's parents all took up the game of golf right around the time I was born. So Golf was a very big part of of our family when I was little.

Devlin, Bruce  03:50

I heard that you decided that you wanted to turn pro fairly early to I did that come from?

Webb, Karrie  03:58

Well, we there's a tour it's it's still still is a tour and Queensland but it's not not as vibrant as it was back in the 80s. It's called the Troppo tour. And it was a series of pro and tournaments up and down, up and down Queensland. And, you know, some of the Australian Australia's greats have played on it. You know, Ian Baker-Finch,Wayne Grady, Peter Senior, Stuart Appleby. They all all came through there at some stage or another but me starting the game and taking it seriously. When I was around eight years old. We had a we had a stop on the Troppo tour at the Ayr golf club. So early on, I was fascinated by the idea of professional golfers and that they play golf for a living. Yeah,

Devlin, Bruce  04:51

great story.

Mike Gonzalez  04:53

So what's your first memories of golf even before maybe even picked up a club

Webb, Karrie  05:01

Well, my my first memories of playing golf, or not even playing golf, were when I was really little, you know, coming from a country club in Australia, there weren't really any restrictions on kids coming out to the course. Later on a Saturday afternoon, so if my parents had played on Saturday afternoon, I might have, we might have my sisters and I, my grandparents might have looked after us in the afternoon, they dropped us out at the golf club, about five o'clock and mum and dad were would be upstairs with their friends. And the club was a fairly young club at that stage. And there's lots of kids my age are, you know, around. And so the parents will be upstairs having a drink at the bar, and we'd be running right downstairs, running through bunkers and all over the place. But it was just a really great atmosphere out there. And, you know, I knew my parents and my grandparents both loved being out there and being a part of the clubs. So I think it was just something that I naturally gravitated towards.

Mike Gonzalez  06:08

Bruce, I don't know what your experience was, as a kid, you know, I look back at mine. And I probably had the same environment in that. It was a small little town nine hole course. But it was fairly welcoming to kids. That's not true everywhere. There was probably true in Australia and in the States. You know, there were a fair number of clubs that just weren't that inviting for for kids to come out and play certain times and give them the run of the place. But you must have, you must have enjoyed having that opportunity.

Devlin, Bruce  06:38

Yeah, well, to be honest with you. I had to there were two golf courses in my little town that I grew up in. One was a nine hole public Golf Course, which was sort of cute. And then the private club where my mum and dad were members. We didn't seem to have the freedom that Carrie had had her club because they wouldn't let me in the clubhouse when I was a kid. So I, I'd have to sort of sneak out by the back by the 11th. Green and try to try to get around and play the eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th all that way. So but yeah, and I mean, just to have the fact that the Golf Course was there was great. And we think we thank everybody for the help they gave us.

Mike Gonzalez  07:26

Yeah, well, you you were able to sort of tag along, I guess with your grandparents at a fairly early age. Yeah.

Webb, Karrie  07:33

Yes. Yeah. My grandparents so they own two businesses and they work for the work seven days a week and sorry six days a week and Sundays was really the only day that they both could play golf like my granddad would would play in the Sunday on Saturday competition. But that was usually my grandma's afternoon off and and that probably involved babysitting us because my parents were out playing golf but Sunday's was was their day to play golf together. And they would always play nine holes on a Sunday morning and round around about the age of four. They they must have started asking me if I wanted to go with them. And I said yes. I think that Christmas, I had gotten a set of plastic clubs for from Santa. So they take me take me around the golf club course with them. And you know, for walking nine holes was was a lot. So my granddad be pulling his own bag and me, you know, sitting on the seat on the back on his little pull, pull buggy, pulling me around. But you know, I did that from the age of four to eight years old with them. And you know, as I got bigger and stronger, the plastic clubs just weren't cutting it anymore. And you know, I was the head was flying off and going further than the bowl and I was getting frustrated. So my grandparents promised me for my eighth birthday, because that's when juniors are allowed to start playing Saturday morning, juniors, they promised me for my eighth birthday that they get me a set of clubs. And you know, that's, that's what happened on my birthday set of clubs and my parents gave me the bag and and the buggy.

Mike Gonzalez  09:17

So tell us a little bit about those clubs.

Webb, Karrie  09:21

Yeah, well, you know, kids today, I mean, it's great. The the clubs that are made for them today, you know, they're nice and lightweight and built, built for their size, but back then it was just any hodgepodge of clubs that were that were cut down and regrouped. But, so so obviously very stiff and heavy and and the grip being really big, but it was it was a few years after I turned pro and you know, I was doing well on tour overseas that you know, you know once I outgrew though those clubs they got handed around to the next Junior that was starting in the next unit that was starting. And, you know, I'd talk to my parents about seeing if I could find them. And they must have mentioned it as a golf club. And then one day a member of the club showed up and said, I think I have cards, first set any and he had didn't have all of them. But he had two or three of the ions and the drive Oh, dump driver. It was like a foreword of the set. And unbeknownst to me, I didn't really remember what maybe they were, but the ions were Peter Thompson, golf clubs. So that was pretty cool. Once I found that out. Oh, yes.

Mike Gonzalez  10:40

So you're telling our listeners that they probably weren't frequency matched and match swing weights?

Webb, Karrie  10:48

No, definitely not. Which is probably, you know, I probably had to learn to swim with fairly stiff clubs at a very young age. Yeah,

Mike Gonzalez  10:56

I mean, we just remember pulling out the hacksaw Bruce, right. Yeah. Get it down. Put another grip on and off you go. That's right. Yeah, that's right. Well, so So you graduated to sort of some sod down clubs at? At age eight, you said? When did you get sort of a real set that sort of fit? You and your swing and your body at that time? You remember?

Webb, Karrie  11:25

I'm not? I'm not sure exactly. I think my first brand new set of golf clubs was when I was 13. Some thinking that along the way, it was just maybe a maybe I went to like, you know, a set of secondhand ladies clubs at some point. And then yeah, and then when I was 13, Brosnan, which was a an Australian Equipment Company, gave me a set of brand new clubs and bag and everything for free. So I was very excited about that. Yeah, that's great. Well, you're

Mike Gonzalez  11:59

probably too young to have played the small ball, I would guess.

Webb, Karrie  12:03

No, I actually, I did start with that. Yeah, I don't know if I'm sure the rule had had started when I started in 1983. And I'm thinking there was a grandfathering in period of time that this mobile and you know, with the R&A to I think there are a couple of years behind where you bring in bringing in the, what we know is the current size gospel. But I do remember having what what finally, when it was bought in that you couldn't use a small wall anymore, and I had to use the the bigger ball. I didn't like it because it didn't hit it. So

Devlin, Bruce  12:42

I do remember that more. Two more spin on

Webb, Karrie  12:44

Well, I don't know how much spin I was putting on the ball. But it just it wasn't flying as far and I was not happy about that.

Mike Gonzalez  12:51

Yeah, yeah. So tell us about the Golf Course you grew up on was it nine holes, 18 holes, a lot of sand. Much in the way practice facilities

Webb, Karrie  13:02

was 18 holes. And, you know, all built and constructed by volunteers, member volunteers at the club on I had non health for many years. But in my lifetime, it's always been a team. It was, I think, a really great Golf Course to grow up on one because I had access to it all the time. And then practice facilities went great. The driving range was just an area that you hit out onto the first fairway and then a small, small putting and chipping green. And so it wasn't, it wasn't great, but it was enough for me at that age. And as I got older, the club allowed me to, to do a bit more work on my short game, you know, on the actual greens around the Golf Course. Yeah, so that was that was helpful, but you know, I definitely have left a lot of blood sweat and tears on that on that practice area at the golf club, that's for sure.

Mike Gonzalez  14:08

I bet you have if you're like most of our guests they played multiple sports as kids is that true for you as well?

Webb, Karrie  14:16

Yeah, I played just about any sport I could could get into not a lot away from from school sport. You know, organized sport away from school, really with golf and maybe a little bit of indoor cricket but at school I played everything hockey, softball, netball, which, so for American listeners, hockey is field hockey, and netball was a version of basketball, but you don't bounce the ball. So I played anything, and I played basketball as well. Just about anything I could. And I love I mean, even now I'll watch just about any sport on TV as well. So I was I was a sport mad kid.

Mike Gonzalez  15:04

Well, you're probably watching the World Cup then as we speak here in the year 2023. Because it's happening in your home country.

Webb, Karrie  15:10

Yes, yes. Apparently watching Australia this morning. So, yeah, definitely. keen observer.

Mike Gonzalez  15:16

Yeah. So what was it about golf that? What was the attraction for you in terms of that sport versus some of the others you played as a child?

Webb, Karrie  15:27

I think, well, one, I wasn't allowed to play real organized cricket, because that at that stage was classed as a boy sport. So I think that really was my other love besides golf. But I wasn't, you know, I could only play indoor cricket, I couldn't play the real version of the game. But apart from that, I think I, you know, I played plenty of other teams, sports and school and primary school. And I think what I found was, and what I loved about golf was that what I put into the sport I got out of, I didn't have to rely on someone else, working just as hard as me to lift the team. Even though I love the camaraderie of the team, atmosphere, I just love that. If I wanted to go practice, I could go practice I didn't, you know, it wasn't an organized thing. It was just whenever I wanted to do it, and, you know, I, the the amount of hours I put in, you know, I was the beneficiary of so I think, I think I really liked I liked that part of it.

Mike Gonzalez  16:33

And was the solitude of the game and attraction and a match for your personality type or not necessarily.

Webb, Karrie  16:40

I was a pretty shy kid. But when it came to sports, I think I got along with anybody. And there was plenty of Junior, not many junior girls that are clubs, but plenty of junior boys that were were really into it. So, you know, for me, there was lots of camaraderie after school when I was practicing anyway, you know, it, it wasn't, it wasn't a team thing, but it felt like it was you know, we're all dreaming about being professional golfers one day, so we're all sort of practicing and playing against one another.

Mike Gonzalez  17:14

So you kind of knew what you wanted to do at a fairly early age, I understand.

Webb, Karrie  17:21

Yeah, pretty early. I just like like, you know, we used to have this tournament, this program that came through at the air golf club, and it was a tour called the troppo tour. And it was just in Queensland, and you know, the likes of Ian Baker-Finch and Peter Senior, Wayne Grady, Stuart Appleby, they all all played on the Troppo tour at some point in their careers, and they all played at Ayr golf club. And so very true. Yes, very early on, I just remember, you know, as little kids just watching, when the pros came into town and watching them hit balls, and just marveling at how, how great, they hit it, and you know, you know, hitting that their balls into just small little patches, and, you know, and listening to the adults, you know, being impressed with how they were hitting it. So I think that made me realize that that's what you had to work towards. So I'd always had a fascination with professional golf and obviously watched on TV, my whole life up leading up until I was 11. And for my 12th birthday, which is at the end of the year, close to Christmas. My my grandparents gave me a trip down to the Gold Coast to watch the Queensland Open. And, and it was in 1986. So Greg Norman was the number one player in the world. And he just won the Open Championship that week, that year, sorry. And so there was a lot of hoopla of him coming home to play in Australia. And so I went, I stayed at my mom's sister's place at my aunt's place and went out to the tournament, four days in a row. And I think I was hooked. Right, right from from that point on. I came home and, and said to my parents that I wanted to be a professional golfer.

Mike Gonzalez  19:24

So when that sort of thought set settled with you, how did things change? Did you change your approach how much you played the game, sought out coaching, what changed?

Webb, Karrie  19:38

Nothing really changed for a couple of years. I was still doing well. I did. Besides sport. I did do a couple of extra curricular activities outside of school I was tap dancing and playing the guitar, which my only regret my parents never, never pushed me to do anything. They they gave me the opportunity to do anything that I wanted to do. And as far as the guitar went, my lesson was at 330, every Monday afternoon, and the next time I touched the guitar was 330, the following Monday afternoon, so there wasn't a lot of Yeah, it wasn't a lot of practice going on. But now I wish I knew how to play it. So. But so, I was still doing those sorts of things up until I was 13. And as far as coaching goes, I, we never had a club professional at the golf club when I turned pro, or when I started golf, sorry. And, and so the good friend of my parents was Kelvin Heller. And he, he actually his family and were instigators and getting my parents into golf. So my grandparents business was right next to a news agency owned by Kelvin's parents, Kelvin worked for them. Before he went, he ended up becoming the head greenkeeper out at the golf club, but he worked for them and, and between him and his parents, they encouraged my parents and my grandparents to start playing golf. So fast forward to when I started really playing golf at the age of eight, my parents asked Kelvin to, you know, whenever they saw me at the Golf Course, whenever he saw me at the Golf Course, to just keep an eye on me and make sure you know, I wasn't getting into any bad habits. And and that's sort of how our relationship started. And he was one of the better players in the club. But all self taught, he read every golf magazine that was in his parents news agency, so all of his all of his learnings came from the golf magazines. But yeah, Kelvin was my coach was my only coach through the better part of my professional career. And then, well, when I was 16, Kelvin had an unfortunate incident happened and, and became a quadriplegic. And so even though it was my only coach, through the better part of my career, it started to become harder and harder, because as I seen him a couple of times a year, and it's not, it was a third of the internet, and we were able to, to, to send videos back and forth. But not as easy as it is today. But, you know, we were managing, but, you know, the pressures of trying to be the best you can be. I was very fortunate that Ian Triggs helped me out for 10 years Kelvin, and I like he, he understood my relationship with Kelvin and just offered to be a part of our team. So I've always been very appreciative to answer that and, and later on, Nike McEttrick in the US also came on board as at the same capacity. So Kelvin really was was my coach from from the age of eight. Until he his passing about a year ago.

Devlin, Bruce  23:14

After all that early, early days in school, how about high school? Did you stay in Ayr for your high school? Or did you go somewhere else?

Webb, Karrie  23:23

Yeah, no, I stayed in Ayr and good news, bad news. My high school was right next to the golf Golf Course. So the school football fields, back then to the ninth, the eighth the ninth hole at the Ayr Golf Club. So it was a good thing because after school, so it was it was when I started high school. So when I was 13, which is you know, in a che grade eight is the start of high school and that was when I told my parents I just wanted to concentrate on goals. So no more tap dancing, guitar lessons for me. I kept a little bit of indoor cricket in my life because that was an evening. Evening sport. But yeah, so I had got to high school and then I'd walk, walk to the Golf Course after school every day and and practice and play and mom My mom would pick me up just before dark and take me home or I'd walk home because I was only about 5, 10 minutes away. So that was that was started high school but bad news was there was no skipping school because they could see me if I was skipping school to be at the Golf Course I

Mike Gonzalez  24:34

couldn't get away from with that a night. So I'm always curious to hear from our guests about what sort of learners they were at a young age. You know, we've we've talked to a wide range of aged greats from you know, people in their 80s down to folks, your agent and and even thinking about how I learned back in the 60s it was, you know, looking at the golf magazines wre available observing a little bit from television. But we certainly didn't have video and I didn't have exposure, a lot of professionals that could show me the ropes. How did you learn at a young age?

Webb, Karrie  25:12

I think a combination of all that, you know, I read all the golf magazines as well. And I definitely watched as much golf as I could, we didn't get tons of golf. In Australia, at that time, we got the men's majors, which were on, you know, super early in the morning, or, as you know, with the Open Championship was, you know, starting at midnight, and finishing, you know, four o'clock in the morning. So, and, you know, and then the Australian events, there was probably a two or three month period where there was lots of golf on. So, I think I was, I was a very good imitator of what I saw on TV, going back to my love of cricket. I, I taught myself how to bowl or pitch, just by watching cricket on TV. So I think I do have a very good learning capacity when I'm able to see and copy. But otherwise, my, you know, really, most of my coaching and knowledge of the game came from Kelvin

Devlin, Bruce  26:24

brings me to another question. So you looked at all these TV, who's who was the one person that you tried to emulate with their swing? Was there anybody that stuck out? I

Webb, Karrie  26:37

don't mind? I don't know, if I tried to emulate anyone necessarily

Devlin, Bruce  26:43

pick pieces off of some pieces maybe?

Webb, Karrie  26:50

You know, I mean, I mean, I looked up to Greg Norman, but I wouldn't say that my swing resembles Greg's at all. But I think maybe, you know, his aggressive style of golf I, I tended to to copy especially earlier in my plank days, you know, probably as you get older, you get a little more conservative, but But early, early on, I was a pretty aggressive player, and I think probably modeled myself after watching him play all those years.

Mike Gonzalez  27:23

As you think about how your game developed at a young age, would you say that it was sort of steady progression? Or did you have these step functions where you you had these aha moments on aspects of your game that caused you to develop to a an aspect of your game quick, and then you went to the next part?

Webb, Karrie  27:42

I think it was just a steady progression. I sort of went through the age divisions of junior tournaments. And just every time I raised the level, my game raised with it. I don't know if I really know why that happened, or how that happened. Besides, you know, I was constantly practicing and working at it. And you know, as I was getting all those just getting better, and I was also understanding how to put a score together a little bit more as well. So yeah, each each that I took in my golfing journey, I just, I just raised to that level. So I was very fortunate that way that I was just naturally able to do that.

Mike Gonzalez  28:20

You know, Bruce, she brings up a great point, which we've heard many times about. ball striking is one thing, but it's getting it in the hole,

Devlin, Bruce  28:27

and learning how to play the golf courses and when to be aggressive and when not to be.

Webb, Karrie  28:34

Yeah, I think that is a big key. And it took me a while, like I was very good playing in North Queensland and then even within Queensland on the major golf courses in Bermuda greens took me a little bit longer. You know, I had some shockers going away to shine amateurs and playing at Royal Melbourne and heart of winter, you know, coming from North Queensland and not even having the right clothes. You know, so freezing and then and then not playing well. And, you know, not really understanding how to chip to to fall and faster greens and part on greens that had way more break and fade to them. So yeah, that took that took a few knocks, you know, I didn't I didn't play well at those higher levels immediately. But you know, I learned I was a quick learner and I learned from every one of those opportunities.

Mike Gonzalez  29:34

I think it's fair to say that your path from your sort of junior golf to the professional ranks looks a little different than it does nowadays, doesn't it?

Webb, Karrie  29:43

Yeah, I think so. I mean, it that it is different, but it's also a little similar and that, you know, I never went to college in the US. And at the time of turning pro, it was just before my 20th birthday, and everyone was screaming at me that I was too young. And, you know, my rookie year in Europe I was, I was 20 years old. And I was the youngest on tour and then falling out was my rookie year and the LPGA. And I was 21. And I was the youngest one tour, which now when you look at it, 21 girls have been on tour for three or four years. And if you're if you're a Korean girl, even until maybe five or six years, you know, it's definitely changed a lot. But yeah, like I didn't take possibly what seems especially in the US with a traditional path and go to college,

Devlin, Bruce  30:43

college. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  30:44

Yeah. Because, you know, you came along at a time when that path was at least open to you if you'd come along 15, 20 years before before Title Nine in the US, it was a whole different world here for women, wasn't it?

Webb, Karrie  30:55

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And it was open to me. I did, I looked into it briefly. But the difference between when I was looking into it, and now, the big thing for me was that if I went to college in the states that couldn't represent Australia anymore. And now the girls can do both. So yeah, plus, I also, you know, I, my last two years of high school, 11 and 12, I missed quite a bit of school playing golf. And so I was forever catching up on work or doing work ahead of time and getting assignments in early and I'd have found that stress, you know, because I was a good student, I wasn't allowing myself to fail I, I found that stress of juggling, golf and study, quite a bit, quite a lot of work. And the sort of doing that at college, also was a bit of a negative to me, as well, but but the biggest thing was that I wasn't going to be at a play, play for Australia.

Mike Gonzalez  32:00

So take us through your amateur career, you had quite a few successes over a period of years. And tell us a little bit about how your game was developing during those years, I think we, we see an opportunity where you were able to play for the Australian amateur team and had quite a bit of junior success and other things.

Webb, Karrie  32:20

Yeah, like I said, I sort of progressed through you know, it's the as it came, but I took a really big jump. I don't think I'd won any state or national junior tournament before I won the Queensland stroke play. And that, I think that sort of came about because I got left off, I was the lowest handicap Junior in the state and got left off the under 21 Junior team and the under 18 sub junior team for the Australian Junior that January prior. And, you know, you decided, I felt like I was being discriminated, I felt like I was being discriminated against because I was from North Queensland. And, you know, I didn't really fit the golf scene, you know, this country kid that was rough around the edges. And so, you know, I think that just, you know, lit a fire in me that I was just going to prove them wrong. And the very next opportunity I got, I won a one against, you know, the older team. Well, yeah, I against some of the best amateurs in the country. You know, some of the older players that time was Cavill and Edwina Kennedy and you know, though, Louise Briars are all playing an event and, you know, the 16 year old kid came along and and won the event, which I wasn't I wasn't supposed to do and Liz Cavill went to bat for me. And you know, that was when it was still the ALG or the QLG for me in Queensland and was like, Why have I not seen this girl play before now? So that was that was the end of the discrimination. They couldn't ignore me anymore. So you know, so I actually represented the Queensland Amateur team before I ever represented the Queensland Junior team, which is not normally happened.

Mike Gonzalez  34:18

Let's it's amazing what little motivation we'll do. Yeah. Can you think of other examples in your career? Were you able to draw on some motivation from another sort, perhaps, and have some success?

Webb, Karrie  34:31

Well, I think, you know, early in my professional career, I wasn't the I wasn't the right fit for carrying the LPGA into the next generation. I was deemed that by some media people and some, some outspoken players on tour. And, you know, rather than try to fit the mold, I just dug my heels in and continue to be myself and be you and pliers good to golf as I could

Mike Gonzalez  35:03

you bring something up which we're going to talk I think we will talk about a little bit later. But you had somebody come before you from the from the lady ranks. And that was Jan Stephenson and so you start talking about fitting the mold and so forth, right? She was asked to do something that in retrospect, she shares today that she probably wished you hadn't done, which was to be the sex symbol, if you will, of the LPGA Tour and really help them market the tour the way it was marketed back into a certain certain segment of time to attract viewers to attract sponsors and so forth. But what Bruce and I both learned in, in going through her life was, she was a bit of a maverick too, particularly at a young age, you know, she she, I wouldn't never call her. Oh, I don't know, going along. 

Devlin, Bruce  35:55

Conformist?

Mike Gonzalez  35:56

Yeah, a conformist. thank you for helping me with my grammar. Exactly. Does that sound familiar to you? Does that feel familiar to you as well?

Webb, Karrie  36:06

Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, I mean, I did take some of that personally, but instead of taking it in a way that made me feel less, I think, I use it as motivation. To prove doubters wrong. You know, I think I've, I've always, I've always done that, you know, I think because even within me, I've, I've had that, that doubting voice in my head at times. And I've, you know, had to prove that that voice in my head wrong a number of times. So, you know, I've always sort of been like the battler you know, trying to prove prove everyone wrong.

Mike Gonzalez  36:51

Yeah. I'm a big believer that no matter how cocksure and confident people come across, we've all got that little voice in our head. Yeah. Yeah. So at some point, you as your career develops, you're having some successes, Jr. and you're going from age old, let's say 15, 16. Through your decision to turn professional tell us a little bit about how that came about who was involved in the decision? How easy was it for you and what you had to do to become a professional golfer back in that day?

Webb, Karrie  37:26

Well, I think, the decision I mean, I certainly talked to it with my parents, and said with Kelvin, and this decision probably came about a year or two quicker than, than I had thought it was going to, and the plan that I had for myself. But, you know, in the end of 1994, or, or the year of 1994, I won the Australian Strokeplay at the start of the and I over after finishing high school in 1992, I played amateur golf, full time pretty much for for two years, I work part time. But but, you know, most of my free time was was devoted to practicing and working as hard as I could and just the freedom of not having to worry about you know, schoolwork and going to school and handing in assignments and stuff like that there was just that freedom to, to grow as a golfer and those two years were really successful. And back then there was no one sending us to the British Am or to the US Amateur or even to play any of the big amateur tournaments in the US. You know, the only overseas trips would get is if we represented Australia and at the end of 94 was the World Amateur in Paris, and the following year, there wasn't any overseas trips the only Australian team I could make was the Commonwealth team and that was going to be in Australia so wasn't even going to get to go overseas. And so I sort of set myself a little goal at the World amateur and I talked to my parents about it that if I finished in the top five at the World Amateur that I would turn pro and I achieved that and so then I came back from Paris and and then to turn pro then back then it was a certain handicap which I had easily and you just paid to to join the women's PGA

Devlin, Bruce  39:37

so you didn't have to go through what I went through her. Is that what you're saying?

Webb, Karrie  39:41

I didn't have to be a trainee Pro. Is that what is that? What No,

Devlin, Bruce  39:44

no, no, no, when I turned pro, they said we'd love to have you turn pro but you can't take any money for 12 months.

Webb, Karrie  39:52

Oh, I never heard that. No. No, yeah.

Devlin, Bruce  39:57

So I played on the Australian circuit in 61. And I think I won twice on the circuit never never got a

Webb, Karrie  40:08

penny. Now well

Devlin, Bruce  40:12

in that that's a little weird. Yeah, that is time

Mike Gonzalez  40:18

and had to turn down an invitation to the Masters during that touch

Devlin, Bruce  40:21

right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah might be the only person ever turned into Augusta day.

Mike Gonzalez  40:30

It was Clifford Roberts at that in terms of that's probably not the guy.  Thank you for listening to another episode of for the good of the game. Please wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify if you like what you hear, please subscribe. Spread the word. Tell your friends. Until we tee it up again, FORE the Good of the Game, So long everybody

Music playing  40:58