Byline: Kevin Acee Daily News Staff Writer
The scene on the 18th green at the Desert Inn Golf Club on Sunday is likely to be replayed many times in the coming years.
First, Emilee Klein congratulated Karrie Webb for her victory in the LPGA Tour Championship. Webb, in turn, grabbed her playing partner and kissed her on the cheek.
Then, Klein shook hands with Webb's caddie, Evan Minster, who grabbed her and kissed her cheek. After that, Minster hugged Kenny Harms, Klein's caddie and boyfriend.
Not just the two youngest players in the 30-player, season-ending tournament field but the two youngest players on the LPGA Tour, Klein and Webb were tied for the lead at 9-under par after three rounds here and were paired in Sunday's final twosome.
With an eagle on the par-5 15th hole, Webb put the tournament away, finishing with a 7-under 65 for a total of 16-under 272. The Australian's $150,000 first-place check - her fourth first-place finish of 1996 - made her the first LPGA player to ever win $1 million in a year. Nice work for a 21-year-old rookie.
She finished her season in flawless style. Twice - at 3 and 4 and at 10 and 11 - she birdied successive holes. She also birdied 13 before the fateful eagle on 15.
We all know what this feels like: ``Every time I looked up at my shot it was going straight at the pin. The strong parts of my game today was everything,'' Webb said.
Klein did not have such fortune. The 1992 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks was shy with her putter on the front nine Sunday - bogeying the seventh and ninth - and closed with a 69. Her total of 12-under 276 tied her for second place with Kelly Robbins (65) and Nancy Lopez (66).
``It was a good ending to a good year,'' said Klein, who is sometimes listed as being from Studio City and sometimes from Graeagle, Calif. - sometimes both places in the same tournament, as she was here - but is actually a new homeowner in Orlando, Fla. ``I would have liked to have won, but Karrie is playing incredible golf.''
Klein, who joined the tour in 1995, experienced a season of emergence this year, winning her first two tournaments - in successive weeks. She finished ninth on the money list with earnings of $463,793.
Klein was also able to quickly realize this weekend was not the last time she will be battling Webb with a tournament on the line. It happened earlier this year, with Klein winning that time for her first LPGA title at the Ping Welch's Championship in August.
``It will probably be going back and forth for a long time,'' Klein said. ``I think you'll be hearing a lot from both of us. I think we'll both probably be on top for many years to come, so we'll be paired together a lot, I'm sure.''
While the talk on the LPGA Tour has been about making it easier to qualify for the Hall of Fame - a likelihood in the next year - the talk around the Desert Inn this week was about how Klein and Webb could probably qualify under the current requirement of having to win 30 tournaments.
``The young players, playing like they are, could reach the Hall of Fame with the criteria as it is now,'' said Lopez, whose 47 tournament titles has her in the 14-member Hall.
Michelle McGann, a two-time winner but fast becoming a senior citizen at 26, is excited by the prospects of future Klein-Webb battles.
``They've got youth on their side,'' she said. ``It's great any time there's a duel like that. It's like Lopez and (Beth) Daniel in their prime. It's going to be great for the tour.''
Both Klein and Webb can be seen the first weekend of December in the JC Penney Classic, which pairs players from the men's and women's tours, and the Dec. 13-15 Diners Club Matches at PGA West in La Quinta.
If you miss those, don't worry. They'll be around for a while.
CAPTION(S):
2 Photos
Photo: (1--color) Rookie Karrie Webb reacts to sinking an eagle putt on the 15th hole in the final round.
Associated Press
(2) KLEIN
