Duo catches Neumann

Sorenstam, Webb create three-way tie atop LPGA's first major

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb finally get a chance to take golf's best rivalry to the biggest stage.

Webb, the youngest woman to win the career Grand Slam, made up a six-stroke deficit Saturday with the best round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, a 5-under 67 that gave her a three-way share of the lead.

"It's going to be a good finish," Webb said. "I think we'll leave it all out there."

Sorenstam, the first woman to shoot 59 and earn $2 million in one season, will meet her on the first tee this morning, the first time they have played together in the final group of a major championship.

"I look forward to it," Sorenstam said after a 71. "I've got a chance to win tomorrow, and that was my goal at the beginning of the week."

They have plenty of company.

Joining them at 4-under 212 is Liselotte Neumann, who went from a two-stroke lead to a three-stroke deficit, then finished strong with birdies on two of the last three holes for a 73, still very much in the hunt for her first victory in four years.

"It was a big struggle all day, and to finish that way is so big," Neumann said.

Rosie Jones had the lead at 6-under until she started missing greens and missing putts, making bogey on three of her last seven holes for a 72. The best woman to never win a major, she had no problem seeing the big picture.

With 18 holes to play, she was only one stroke behind, along with Becky Iverson (69).

Still, the spotlight is on the Sorenstam and Webb, who have ruled women's golf the way Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus did some 40 years ago.

Sorenstam has 32 victories and three majors, and will try to become the first player to win consecutive titles in the Nabisco Championship. Webb has 26 victories and has won five of the last nine majors.

Both already have enough points for the LPGA Hall of Fame. Both have traded places at No. 1 in the world. They have finished 1-2 in 10 LPGA events, each with five victories.

"We bring out the best in one another," said Webb, who holed a 20-foot birdie on the 18th hole. "I know I need to play my best golf to compete with her."

The last time they were paired together was the Evian Masters last year in France, where Sorenstam won in a playoff. Earlier this year, the 31-year-old Swede made up a three-stroke deficit and beat Webb on the fourth playoff hole in the Australian Ladies Masters.

"I guess I'm 1-up," Sorenstam said. "I hope she remembers that tomorrow."

Still, this is far from a two-woman race to see who gets to jump into the lake on the island-green 18th, the signature moment of the Nabisco Championship.

Eleven players were within four shots of the lead going into the final round, which might not be much considering Webb made up six shots on Saturday.

Dorothy Delasin birdied the 18th for a 69 and was at 214, along with Cristie Kerr.

- SINGH INCREASES LEAD: Vijay Singh, winless on the PGA Tour since the 2000 Masters, shot a 6-under 66 to take a three-stroke lead over Darren Clarke in the Shell Houston Open at The Woodlands, Texas.

At 18-under 198 on the TPC at The Woodlands, Singh matched the tournament 54-hole record for relation to par set by Curtis Strange in his 1980 victory at the par-71 Woodlands Country Club.

Clarke, from Northern Ireland, shot a 67. Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal was five strokes back at 203 following a 64.

- EICHELBERGER UP BY 2: Dave Eichelberger shot his second straight 5-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead over Doug Tewell in the Emerald Coast Classic at Milton, Fla. Tewell shot a 63 on The Moors course.

Lanny Wadkins (63) was third, four stokes back at 134. Hubert Green (66) was at 135, and Dale Douglass (63), Tom Jenkins (68) and first-round leader Dana Quigley (73) followed at 136.

Douglass, 66, become the second-youngest pro to better his age. Joe Jimenez was 65 when he shot a 63 in the 1991 GTE Northwest Classic.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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