Natalie Anne Gulbis (born January 7, 1983, in Sacramento, California) is an American professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour.
Golf career
Gulbis started finding interest in the game at the early age of 3-1/2. By the time she reached 7 years old she had won her first tournament. In three years, at age 10, she was breaking par.
Gulbis is of Latvian descent, her last name meaning swan in the Latvian language[1]. She played in her first LPGA tour event as an amateur at the age of 14 (handicap of 2). She attended Granite Bay High School and graduated when she was 16. She turned professional at age 18 after playing for one season on the women's golf team at the University of Arizona.
Gulbis did not win a tournament in the first five years of her professional career but still finished sixth on the LPGA money list in 2005 with over $1 million (U.S.) in earnings and played on the winning United States Solheim Cup team. She placed in the top-10 in four consecutive major championships from the 2005 LPGA Championship to the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Gulbis' first professional win came in 2007 at the Evian Masters where she defeated Jeong Jang in a playoff to claim the winner's share of the $3,000,000 purse.
Personal life, business and media
Gulbis is considered to be a sex symbol in the LPGA. She released a 2005 calendar, just before the 2004 U.S. Women's Open, which featured her not only playing golf, but also in striking poses in swimwear. The United States Golf Association (USGA) barred it from being sold at the event, deeming it inappropriate. The calendar was sold very openly at Golf Canada; the USGA was criticized for overreacting. Gulbis also posed for the November 2004 issue of the magazine FHM, an issue that also gave away a chance to play golf with her at her home course, the Lake Las Vegas Resort, where her calendar photo shoot took place. Gulbis has said that she likes the attention she gets, even if it is for her appearance; she has endorsement deals with RSM McGladrey, TaylorMade Golf, Adidas, Canon, Raymond Weil geneve, Amstel Light, SkyCaddie, Payment Data Systems, MasterCard, Winn Golf Grips and Lake Las Vegas Resort. Gulbis was romantically linked to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in 2005.
In 2006, Gulbis began writing a monthly golf advice column in FHM. In November 2005, a reality television show, The Natalie Gulbis Show, made its debut on The Golf Channel. The show had its second season premiere on October 18, 2006. Gulbis has also appeared on the 2007 version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour by EA Sports along with fellow professionals Annika Sörenstam, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald, among others. In August 2007 Gulbis appeared on the August/September cover of Sactown Magazine in an article that profiled the rising star's busy life of product endorsements and photo shoots, though frustratingly enough, no pro win. Gil Ozir, Vice President of Marketing for Raymond Weil (a luxury watchmaker and one of Gulbis' many endorsement deals) was quoted as saying, "Once she starts winning, she's going to be a megastar." A few days later, Gulbis won the Evian Masters, her first professional LPGA title.
In 2009, she appeared in the second season of Celebrity Apprentice.[2] Throughout the season, each celebrity will be raising money for a charity of their choice; Gulbis has selected the Boys and Girls Club.[3] She was fired on the April 19, 2009 episode of the show.
Gulbis also appeared on the April 28, 2009 episode of The Price Is Right as a Showcase theme. She also appeared in Hole in One to do the game's "inspiration putt".
Professional wins (2)
LPGA Tour (1)
2007 (1) Evian Masters
Other wins (1)
Results in LPGA majors
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" tied
Green background for a win. Yellow background for a top-10 finish.
LPGA Tour career summary
| Year |
Tournaments
played |
Cuts
made |
Wins |
2nd |
3rd |
Top 10s |
Best
finish |
Official
Earnings ($) |
Money
list rank |
Scoring
average |
Scoring
rank |
| 1997 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
MC |
n/a |
n/a |
82.50 |
n/a |
| 1998 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
MC |
n/a |
n/a |
80.00 |
n/a |
| 2001 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
T34 |
n/a |
n/a |
73.0 |
n/a |
| 2002 |
26 |
17 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
T5 |
257,310 |
39 |
72.34 |
|
| 2003 |
26 |
22 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
T12 |
251,562 |
39 |
71.91 |
|
| 2004 |
27 |
22 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
T7 |
277,093 |
42 |
71.72 |
36 |
| 2005 |
27 |
26 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
12 |
T3 |
1,010,154 |
6 |
71.24 |
5 |
| 2006 |
26 |
25 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
693,968 |
16 |
71.00 |
9 |
| 2007 |
22 |
19 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
886,404 |
12 |
72.21 |
28 |
| 2008 |
20 |
14 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
T9 |
266,237 |
56 |
72.03 |
41 |
| 2009 |
11 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
T7 |
206,506 |
29 |
71.33 |
T18 |
- Official as of June 14, 2009
References
External links
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