Karrie Webb shot her way into contention on Saturday.

The winner of four LPGA Tour events this season, Webb has given herself a chance to win the U.S. Women's Open if she can come up with a superb final round. It is unlikely, but nothing seems impossible to Webb.

With a 4-under-par 68 at Old Waverly Golf Club on Saturday, Webb kept leader Juli Inkster within sight. She'll be seven shots back when the final round begins, but Webb will not go down without a fight.

"I'll just go for broke," Webb said. "If I don't pull it off, I probably won't finish too well in the tournament. And if I do pull it off, I'll have a chance to win. And that's the most important thing."

Why not Webb?

Webb set a scoring record of 26-under par in winning the Australian Ladies Masters. She's won wire-to-wire and by coming from behind. She leads the LPGA money list by more than $300,000 with $738,066, a number that would swell to well over $3-million if she competed for the same money as Duval, who has also won four times on the PGA Tour.

But just like Duval, Webb has never won a major championship.

That fact makes the Australian bristle a bit, seeing as she's had so few opportunities.

Only 24, Webb already has 13 LPGA titles since arriving as a 21-year-old rookie and going over the $1 million mark in her first season. That year, Webb tied for second at the du Maurier Classic, two strokes behind Laura Davies. And that's as close as she has come to winning a major championship.

"This is my 14th major that I have ever played," Webb said. "I have a long career ahead of me. If I play another 15 years, I have 60 more chances at winning a major. I am not in a hurry to win a major. If I win one, that is going to be great.

"But it might take a little bit of time. Some people win them straight off the bat. I think it goes along with winning your first tournament ever. Sometimes you don't really know what you are doing and everything falls into place and you win.

"The second time you win, you actually know what you are doing. That is probably the more special one. If it takes a little while, I will gain experience. Hopefully, one day I will win one."

On the LPGA Tour, winning majors is not the end-all that is associated with the PGA Tour. You simply don't hear it talked about as much. For example, Jack Nicklaus has won 18 professional majors, the standard by which everyone is judged.

But how many does Nancy Lopez have? Just three. Yet nobody diminishes her 48 victories and Hall of Fame career because of the lack of majors.

"I think Nicklaus started this whole major rah-rah because he said he built his schedule around the majors and evaluated his career on majors," said Dottie Pepper, who won the women's first major of the year, the Dinah Shore. "I can understand wanting to win majors because I think they are important. But do majors make a career? Ask Andy North. He won two (U.S.) Opens and that was about it.

"To me, the big picture is trying to get into the Hall of Fame. You need to do a lot more than just play well in the majors to do that. I've got to believe that is one of Karrie's goals. Majors are important and I'm sure she has them played pretty well on her list of priorities. But I think at the same time she knows how well she is playing and you have to take that for what it is."

Webb attributes her strong play this year to an offseason practice routine and a new putting style. Over the holidays, Webb went home to Australia and instead of setting her clubs aside, worked hard on her game. She also started experimenting with a left-hand low putting stroke that has produced better-than-expected results.

"I thought I'd just try it for awhile and see how it worked," she said. "You can hole every putt on the practice green, but it's a different story on the golf course. So I was going to give it a few months, but it's worked since the first event.

"The putting has really overflowed into the rest of my game. When you make a 10- to 15-footer in the first couple of holes, it takes the pressure off trying to hit it close for the rest of the day. You sort of have that feeling that you are going to make them anyway. You are not trying to hit it to 3 feet, because that is the only putt are you are going to make. I haven't really put a lot of pressure on myself to hit the ball close, because my putting has been so good."

But will she put any more pressure on herself to win a major?

"My goals are to try to win as many as I can," Webb said. "I think I've put too much pressure on myself before, and that's when I don't have enough patience. My attitude is just to have a good week. If I can do that and give myself a chance, that will be awesome And if I win, that will unbelievable."

There is no disputing her record. In addition to the four victories in 11 tournaments this year, Webb has yet to finish out of the top 10. Eight times, she has finished among the top-five.

It would be nice to keep that streak going Sunday. Winning, of course, would be far more memorable.

"Hopefully, there's one low round out on the course for me," she said. "The way things are going, I'm definitely going to have to shoot 65 or below. Right from the first hole, there's no point in leaving the putts short or not hitting your approach shots up to the pin. You've got to try and give yourself the best opportunity you can."

Bob Harig, who covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times, writes a column every Tuesday for ESPN Golf Online.