Barty Could Become One Of The Best Golfers In Australia Says LPGA Legend Webb

Ash Barty has the talent to become amateur golf champion of Australia now she has retired from tennis, according to seven-times Major winner Karrie Webb. The tennis world was stunned when World No.1 Barty decided to walk away from the game at the top, and there is talk that she might turn to golf next.

Webb, the newly-appointed captain of Australia’s men’s and women’s golf teams for the 2024 Paris Olympics, was asked whether 25-year-old Barty, who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year in the mixed doubles tennis, could be in contention for the golf team in two years time.

“I don’t see Ash wanting to do a sport where she has to travel the world, I think that’s part of what she didn’t like about tennis, being away from Australia,” Webb told Metro.us. “I wouldn’t put it past her to be Australian amateur champion one day. I can see her working on her game and being good enough to be one of the best players in Australia.”

Barty, who had a stint playing professional cricket when she took a sabbatical from tennis previously, was women’s champion at the Brookwater Golf Club during the pandemic in 2020. At a press conference following the announcement of her retirement this week, she answered in the negative when asked whether she’d consider a career on the LPGA Tour, before tantalisingly adding that she’d need to make some improvements to her game before she could consider such a move.

“No, we’ll wait and see,” she told Metro.us when asked about a move to the LPGA. “I got to try and learn how to hit the middle of the club face before I can think of trying to get on the Tour.”

Webb, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and twice LPGA Tour Player of the Year, has played with Barty and says she’s not far from being good enough to beat her. “I don’t think I’ll need to get in her ear to get her to start play more golf,” the 47-year-old Queenslander added. “I think Ash will definitely get into her golf now. I only got the opportunity to play with her once and it wasn’t going to take much for her to be kicking my butt.”