Karrie Webb misplaced her swing sometime last year. On Monday, just before she plays in the Women’s Australian Open, she found it.
The 37-year-old seven-times major winner started in a blaze last year, winning two tournaments, before stumbling and crawling through the end of the season.
But with the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics as a lure, Webb wants to ensure she can recapture the form which made her the world No.1.
While her last major win was the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship, the Queenslander was buoyed by a practice round at Royal Melbourne and is confident she will remain a force in the world tour.
She joined a group of young amateurs ahead of her first hit-out for the year and believes the modifications she has made will be effective soon.
“Things are feeling pretty good,” Webb said.
“I made a few swing changes starting in October last year. I actually liked what I saw yesterday. There was a little more consistency.
“I might have needed the challenge of a tournament setting than hitting balls in the hot, humid weather of north Queensland.”
The topic of her retirement comes up every year but Webb has no plan to quit, at least in the next five years.
“The Olympics are still the thing I am setting my sights on,” she said.
“If retirement was on the cards, I would not have made these swing changes or worked as hard as I did in the off season.
“I really believe I still have some great golf to play. If I can achieve these swing changes, I believe that is a chance…. You never say never.”
Despite her two wins early last season, she said she was not playing to the best of her ability.
“I won swinging like that. I thought, Well, look out once I start swinging well, ” she said.
“I’ve always relied on that. It is not something that I have had to worry about. I got to the middle of the season and it still wasn’t quite there.
“Then I was over-trying and I got into some quite bad swing habits. I was trying too hard to hit the ball the way I wanted. By September I’d had enough and told (coach) Ian (Triggs) that we really needed to fix things up.”
Even though she had problems, Webb said last year was her first in perhaps 10 years on the LPGA Tour that she had not missed a cut.
When she does eventually stop, golf course design is in her sights and she has already begun working with golf legend Peter Thomson and his partner Ross Perrett on their Olympic course design bid after they invited her to contribute.
“Hopefully, down the road, that is something I’d like to get into,” she said.
This week, Webb will be chasing her fifth Australian Open and will be fighting a class field, led by World No.1 and defending champion Yani Tseng.
For the first time the tournament is co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour. For the first time the women – including six of the world’s top 10 – will be playing a tournament at Royal Melbourne, the most respected layout they play on all year.
