(Reuters) – Seven-times major champion Karrie Webb said on Tuesday her return to the LPGA Tour this week for the first time in two years is not the start of a comeback but rather a convenient chance to tee it up without hitting the road.
The 47-year-old Australian lives in Boynton Beach, Florida, which means she only has to drive about 30 minutes to compete at the Gainbridge LPGA in nearby Boca Raton.
“It’s not necessarily a return, I don’t think there is any full time or even a big chunk of part time golf in me,” Webb told reporters at Boca Rio Golf Club.
“But when you’re away from it for a long time there is lot of things that you do miss about it. I think it was great, very convenient that I could stay at home this week and play in a tournament for the first time in a while, and, you know, not feel like the rigors of having to travel with luggage.”
A World Golf Hall of Fame member who last played a full-time schedule on the LPGA Tour in 2017, Webb said she never enjoyed lugging her clubs around when on the road but does miss her fellow competitors and the banter on the range.
Despite being a winner of 56 professional events and widely considered one of the most successful female golfers in history, Webb said she has zero desire to put in the effort it would take to challenge the game’s current top players.
“That’s another thing I don’t really miss, is the grind of putting in the hours on the range and on the practice putting green, and I think that’s why I don’t really have the desire to play a lot,” said Webb.
“I really don’t have the desire to put the work in, and to even come close to competing out here you have to be able to put the work in to compete with these girls. The standard just gets better and better every year.”
Webb will be part of a stacked field this week that will feature 16 of the top-25 players in the rankings, including world number one and defending champion Nelly Korda.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)
