Golfer Uses Her Drive to Help Raise Money for Paralysis Research

Karrie Webb, who won the top prize at the United States Women’s Open in each of the past two years, was just 16 when her golfing coach,

Kelvin Haller, suffered an injury that paralyzed him from the neck down, She recalls thinking then that “if I ever had an opportunity to do something to help paralysis, I would do it.”

Nine years later, Ms. Webb received an opportunity. She won $10,000 at a golf charity event and donated the money to the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, in Springfield, N.J.

Since that first gift, Ms. Webb has helped to raise more than $200,000 for Mr. Reeve’s charity, which raises money for research to find treatments and a cure for paralysis and other central-nervous-system disorders. Two years ago Ms. Webb, now 26, started a golf tournament, the Karrie Webb Celebrity Pro-Am, which has netted a total of $265,000 for the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. Ms. Webb helps plan the event, and this year she lined up eight other female professional golfers to participate, including Beth Daniel and Meg Mallon. Nine celebrities, including the comedian Chevy Chase, also played in the tournament this summer.

In addition to her charity work with Mr. Reeve, Ms. Webb plays in a tournament that raises money for research on breast cancer, organized by fellow professional golfer Val Skinner. And she participates in Drive for Life, the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s international charity project. The golfers, led by the champion Betsy King, are raising money for World Vision, an international-relief charity, to provide food, health care, clean water, and other items needed by the people in the remote Revu Remiti region of Tanzania.

Ms. Webb’s main charitable focus, however, continues to be the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. “It hits close to home,” she says. Ms. Webb contributes to the charity, but declines to say how much. She has won more than $7-million in prize money so far in her golf career.

Mr. Haller still coaches Ms. Webb by analyzing photographs of her golf swing that he receives via e-mail in Ayr, Australia, Ms. Webb’s hometown.

She praises Mr. Haller and Mr. Reeve for refusing to let their disabilities stand in the way of what they want to accomplish. She adds: “Both these men have shown me the value of life.”