Walking In Webb's Footsteps

The Sunday Age

Sunday February 5, 2006

MARTIN BLAKE

Australians Katherine Hull and Lindsey Wright are finding their way on the LPGA Tour, Martin Blake reports

KARRIE Webb is just 31, but already struggling to maintain the standards that made her world No. 1. Webb is persisting in her bid to regain the old fire, but in her wake there are a host of young Australian women beginning to make their mark.

The next Karrie? Perhaps not, for Webb's six major championships has put her in the golf hall of fame. But in Katherine Hull and Lindsey Wright Australia has high hopes as the rest of the world tries to chase down Annika Sorenstam.

Hull and Wright do not have high profiles, at least not yet. But both are playing on the best tour in the world, the LPGA, and holding their ground. Both say they have ambitions to be No. 1 in the world and both are performing well in this week's Ladies' Masters.

Hull, a strapping 23-year-old from Noosa Heads, has had two seasons, and made $US201,676 ($268,275) in 2005, finishing second in the Canadian Open and 55th on the money list. Wright, 26, hails from Albury and was 65th on the list with $US146,307 ($194,622) in her maiden LPGA season. Both held their cards for 2006.

Although they are different characters, they have followed similar paths. In 2002 they were in the Australian amateur team that won the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, as well as spending time together at the Australian Institute of Sport. They also were together at Pepperdine University in the US and won all-American status there. They won their LPGA cards with dominant performances on the secondary Futures Tour in the US.

Wright, a feisty competitor, was an outstanding amateur. Pulling the trolley for her brothers at Thurgoona Golf Club as a kid, she soon recognised there were prizes to be won in the $6-a-round Sunday competitions in Albury.

"Once I realised you could win prizes I was like: 'I love this'. I was the only girl, too, so I kept winning. I thought: 'I love this'. That's how I started. I used to walk in and walk up to the table to see the prizes before I even saw the course. I was shocking."

She found the main tour a grind in 2005, with its succession of flights and tournaments, lousy American food and overly intense players. A throat infection laid her low and depression set in mid-year. She was taken aback by what she perceived as an unfriendly attitude in other players. "I had a lot of expectations about people and some of them didn't live up to that."

Wright says Webb and Rachel Hetherington were helpful. But it was the lack of fun that got to her. "The players are so focused. I wouldn't say they're self-centred, but I can't find the word . . . maybe tunnel-vision and very competitive.

"I found it overwhelming at times. I wasn't intimidated, but at the start of the year I was wondering whether I could cut it. I was so tired. "

The loneliness of life on the road came. "I'm surrounded by people, but you are lonely. They're not close friends or family. When you're around your parents, you can say what you feel and they know you well enough to say: 'Stop whingeing, you're having a moment'.

"That's what I missed, to be honest. I had that on Futures Tour. We were really good mates and we were in the same boat. I could ask for help. On a professional level I'm sure the girls would help, but no one gets out of their way to help."

Hull is a year ahead and is thus more settled. She loves travel, loves living in America, and is not fussed by the lack of a social life. She and Wright, she admits, are "different people. We'll always be mates but we don't hang out much".

Hull likes her Bible study and loves the movement from place to place. "I felt at home from day one," she said. "The first year was harder. I think I played six straight Monday qualifyings. If I didn't play on Monday, I wasn't going to play all week. But it was good for me because if I have a challenge I usually step up . . . Last year I felt more comfortable.

"I was buggered when I went over. I played three straight events here, and went straight to Mexico. It was 36 hours from Royal Pines to my hotel in Mexico and mentally I was drained and I couldn't get going.

"But I'm still young and trying to work out how many weeks on and how many weeks off I like. It's not easy. At college we played 11 events; now I'm playing 35 events . . . All the air fares and the driving take a toll on you."

The money helps, of course, although as Hull points out, the expenses are high. "It's expensive being on tour. I did make 200 grand, but I spent $90,000 on expenses of being on tour, on caddies, air fares and accommodation, things like that. It adds up.

"We spend $1000 to $3000 US a week, then Uncle Sam takes 30 per cent which is 60 grand. At the end you walk away with 50 grand, if that. I'm not complaining, but it's not as good as everyone thinks, unless you're top 10."

Wright is adjusting. She's a fighter. By next Friday, she'll be in a plane for Hawaii and the first LPGA tournament of the year. "I'm confident about it. I'm not going to be as stressed out by the other people like I was last year."

THE YOUNG LIONS

KATHERINE HULL

AGE: 23

HOME TOWN: Noosa Heads

AMATEUR CAREER: Member of Australia's winning World Cup team in Kuala Lumpur in 2002; AIS graduate; all-American while at Pepperdine University; 2002 US college player of the year

PROFESSIONAL WINS: 3

LPGA RECORD: 55th on order of merit with $US201,676 in 2005. Best finish 2nd in the Canadian Open.

LINDSEY WRIGHT

AGE: 26

HOME TOWN: Albury

AMATEUR CAREER: Member of Australia's winning World Cup team in Kuala Lumpur in 2002; AIS graduate; four-time all-American at Pepperdine University

PROFESSIONAL WINS: 4

LPGA RECORD: 65th on order of merit with $US146,307. Best finish tied 5th at Long Drugs Challenge.

© 2006 The Sunday Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home