Webb extends lead through experience

Top ranking a possibility, says Australian golfer .

SINGAPORE:

Australian veteran Karrie Webb said she was capable of a sensational rise to world number one as she extended her brilliant run of form by taking a two-shot lead at the HSBC Women’s Champions on Friday.

Webb, a 40-time LPGA tour winner, used all her experience as she recovered from two late bogeys to return a solid three-under-par 69 for an aggregate score of nine-under 135 at Singapore’s par-72 Sentosa Golf Club.

Webb, 39, topped the leaderboard two strokes ahead of fellow former winner Angela Stanford, 36, who recorded 69 on day two. Taiwan’s Teresa Lu was a shot further back in lone third.

“Two old ducks, I guess,” said Webb sarcastically, referring to the top two. “Did you ask any of the young players if it’s hard to play against girls in their 30s?”

Webb has been the form player early in the season, upstaging youngsters including New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, 16, and winning the Women’s Australian Open with a charge on the final day.

And Webb, already ranked seventh, admitted that reaching number one was a possibility. She has not held the position since the official rankings were devised in 2006, and last topped the LPGA money list in 2000.

“I’ll just try and focus on playing good and wherever that takes me, it takes me,” she said.

“Fifteen years ago I woke up and I was going to do whatever it took to be number one. I know I’m capable of doing that but it’s not something I live and die for.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2014.