Webb in invite to US Open

TWO- TIME champion Karrie Webb has received a special exemption to the US Women’s Open at Shoal Creek in Alabama.

Webb, who hails from Ayr, won consecutive US Women’s Open titles by a combined 13 shots when she was at the top of her game.

She beat Cristie Kerr and Meg Mallon by five shots at The Merit Club outside Chicago in 2000 and Se Ri Pak by eight shots at Pine Needles in North Carolina a year later.

The US Women’s Open at Shoal Creek starts May 31.

In other golf news, Australia’s Jason Day is raring to start his quest for a third World Golf Championships Match Play title a year after an emotional withdrawal from his pet event.

Day arrived at the 2017 edition as defending champion but forfeited six holes into his opening match at Austin Country Club. Minutes later, the Queenslander called a tearful press conference where he revealed mother Dening had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

With his first three starts of 2018 featuring a win at Torrey Pines and a runner- up finish at Pebble Beach, Day has been seeded eighth at the elite 64man event.

He will face Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Dufner and James Hahn in pool matches. Day will no doubt draw on the memories of defeating Oosthuizen five and four in the 2016 WGC- Match Play final.

“I’m really looking forward to coming up against Louis again,” Day said.

“We had a lot of fun in the 2016 final and we’re Presidents Cup teammates. It’s going to be a tough group and I’m going to have to play three really good matches.”