On July 17, 1983, weather had forced a 36-hole finale to the Colorado Open, and on Hiwan Golf Club’s 18th green, his 36th hole of the day, big, burly Kenneth Lawrence Webb, Jr., lay on his back and beseeched the golf gods: “Call Greenpeace. The whale’s been beached!” The large gallery ringing the green convulsed and one observer remembered PGA Tour great Don January’s comment about Larry Webb; “He could be the best thing to ever happen to the tour.”
Always a gallery favorite in the Lee Trevino tradition, native Coloradan Webb served notice early on. Between 1966 and ’71, he amassed six amateur victories including the 1966 Colorado Junior Match Play crown. A scholarship player at the University of Colorado, he turned professional in 1972 and began a remarkable series of wins in state and regional opens, claiming eight victories in Arizona, Kansas, Wyoming and Utah, as well as the 1980 Colorado Open.
While he finished third in the 1983 Colorado Open, Larry went on from that weary afternoon to win the PGA National Club Professional Championship later in the year—the only Coloradoan then or since to win the event. That win propelled him into the 1984 World Series of Golf and into the 1984 British Open at St. Andrews. Larry was active on the PGA Tour in 1977, 1978 and 1984, played in the 1974 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, and competed in the 1984 and 1986 PGA Championships.
Webb’s winning ways have continued as he has moved into the senior ranks. In 1999, he was the Wyoming Open Senior Division champion; won the 1999 Colorado Section PGA Senior Championship and the Vision Quest Colorado Springs Open Senior crown; and was named the Colorado Section 1999 and 2000 Senior Player of the Year.
The winner of more than 50 professional and amateur events in his career, Webb competed in the U.S. Senior Open and the Senior PGA Championship in 2000.
