Webb opens four shot lead

The comparisons to Tiger Woods make Karrie Webb a little uncomfortable.

Keep playing like this, though, and the comparisons are going to go on and on and on.

Webb birdied four of her first seven holes and shot a 4-under-par 68 today, giving the Australian star a commanding, four-stroke lead in the U.S. Women's Open.

With Meg Mallon the only player within seven strokes of the No. 1 player in the world, Webb is one more strong round away from winning her third major championship and qualifying for the Hall of Fame.

``We were playing one hole to every four holes for her, it seemed,'' said Mallon, the leader after the first two rounds. ``It seemed like she was getting further and further under par and I wasn't even playing a hole yet.''

Mallon, the 1991 Women's Open champion, gave chase with birdies on the 15th and 16th holes to get within two strokes of Webb. But she fell off with a double-bogey on 17 and finished with a 1-over 73 for 213.

Betsy King, who started the day tied with Webb at 3 under, fell out of contention with a 10-over 82 after hurting her back on the second hole.

Though Webb might not like them, the similarities between her and Woods are impossible to ignore. They're about the same age; Webb is 25 and Woods is 24.

She won four of the first five tournaments she played, and finished second in the other. Throw in victories on the Australian and Japanese tours, and she's already won six times this year. Woods has won five times.

She won her second major in record-setting fashion, lapping the field at the Nabisco Championship by 10 strokes in March. It was the largest winning margin in the tournament's history. Woods won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes, the largest margin EVER at a major.

And if she and Woods both win on Sunday - Woods has a six-stroke lead at the British Open - they'll each have won three of their tour's last four major championships. Webb won the du Maurier Classic last year for her first major title.

``I have thought about it,'' Webb admitted. ``Like I said, our careers have paralleled so uncannily that it has been talked about. I have talked about it. I have thought about it. I mean, what can I say?

``We don't play on the same tour. So it's hard to compare two players that don't play against one another.''

Maybe. But when Webb flips down her wraparound shades and gets to business, she's as deadly and dominant as Woods. Take Saturday. With its slippery greens, strong, shifting winds and thick, tangly rough, the Merit Club has been brutal on players all week.

But Webb looked as if she was playing a practice round on her home course. She was one of only six players who shot better than par Saturday, and she and Mallon are the only ones under par for the tournament.

``Maybe. If one of us shoots 59 and she shoots a 75,'' Dorothy Delasin said when asked if anyone could beat Webb.

Webb missed only two greens, and hit 10 of 14 fairways. She never three-putted, and had only two bogeys her entire round. She made what looked like an impossible putt on the fifth hole, when her putt from about 18 feet out curled around the cup at the last second and dropped in.

``I feel like I played pretty well today. Like I said, I had one of those days with good yardages, made some putts,'' Webb said. ``On days like that, anyone that would have a day like that would be under par right now.''

While Webb hates looking ahead, she can't help but think how it would feel to hoist the Women's Open trophy. Winning would give her enough points to make the Hall of Fame.

More importantly, this is the one title she's always wanted to win.

``I'm not going to set a score. I'm just going to play hole-by-hole,'' she said. ``Hopefully, at the end of the day, I'll be holding a trophy on the 18th green.''

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