Natalie Gulbis

Natalie Anne Gulbis (born January 7, 1983) is an American professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour.

Natalie Gulbis
Gulbis at the 2009 LPGA Championship
Personal information
Full nameNatalie Anne Gulbis
Born (1983-01-07) January 7, 1983
Sacramento, California, U.S.
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceLake Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Career
CollegeUniversity of Arizona
(one year)
Turned professional2001
Current tour(s)LPGA Tour (joined (2002)
Professional wins1
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour1
Best results in LPGA major championships
Chevron ChampionshipT3: 2006
Women's PGA C'shipT5: 2005
U.S. Women's OpenT4: 2005
Women's British OpenT8: 2005
Evian ChampionshipT52: 2013
Achievements and awards
William and Mousie
Powell Award		2007

Golf career

Gulbis was born and raised in the Sacramento, California, area. She has Latvian ancestry. Gulbis became interested in the game at the early age of four. By the time she reached age seven, she had won her first tournament, and at age ten, she reports she was breaking par.[1]

She played in her first LPGA Tour event in 1997 as an amateur at the age of 14 (handicap of 2). Gulbis was the top player on the boys' golf team at Granite Bay High School and graduated at age 16.[1] She then accepted a golf scholarship to the University of Arizona, the 2000 national champions, where she was a teammate of fellow freshman, Lorena Ochoa.[2] After one season at Arizona, Gulbis left college to turn professional in July 2001 at age 18.[3] At the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament in October 2001 at Daytona Beach, Florida, Gulbis finished tied for third to earn her card for the 2002 season.[4]

Although Gulbis did not win a tournament until her sixth season on tour, she finished sixth on the LPGA money list in her fourth season with over $1 million in earnings in 2005. She placed in the top 10 in four consecutive major championships from the 2005 LPGA Championship to the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Her first professional win came at the July 2007 Evian Masters in France, where she defeated Jeong Jang in a playoff. Gulbis tapped in for a two-putt birdie on the first extra hole to claim the winner's prize of $450,000.[5]

Gulbis has played on three victorious U.S. Solheim Cup teams – 2005, 2007, and 2009.

Gulbis announced she will retire after the 2020 LPGA Tour season.[6]

Personal life, business and media

Gulbis is an only child. She was considered to be a sex symbol in the LPGA. Natalie released a 2005 calendar, just before the 2004 U.S. Women's Open, which featured her not only playing golf, but also 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 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 McGladrey LLP, TaylorMade/Adidas, Canon, Michelob Ultra, SkyCaddie, Payment Data Systems, MasterCard, Winn Golf Grips, Lake Las Vegas Resort, Pure Silk, Lexus, and EA Sports.

In 2006, Gulbis began writing a monthly 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 also has 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, no pro win. Gil Ozir, Vice President of Marketing for Raymond Weil, a luxury watchmaker and one of Gulbis' 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, Gulbis appeared in the second season of Celebrity Apprentice.[7] Throughout the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of their choice; Gulbis selected the Boys and Girls Club.[8] She was fired on the April 19, 2009 episode of the show.

Gulbis appeared on the April 28, 2009, episode of The Price Is Right as a Showcase theme. She also participated in a playing Hole in One to perform the game's "inspiration putt". She appeared on Sports Jobs with Junior Seau, where Seau worked as her caddy during the pro-am round for the Safeway Classic in Oregon.[9]

In 2010, she appeared in the tenth season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation at the 12th episode "Long Ball".[10]

Gulbis appeared in the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue wearing only body paint.[11]

Gulbis contracted malaria during the HSBC Women's Champions tournament in Singapore in late February 2013 and missed a tournament while recovering.[12]

In July 2013, Gulbis became engaged to Josh Rodarmel, a former quarterback for Yale University. They were married in December.[13]

In 2016, Gulbis spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of Donald Trump. There was speculation that she would run for the open 3rd congressional district of Nevada as a Republican in 2018.[14]

In May 2018, President Donald Trump appointed Gulbis to serve as a member of his Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition.[15]

Professional wins (1)

LPGA Tour (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin
of victory		 Runner-up Winner's
share (S)
1 July 29, 2007 Evian Masters 72-69-73-70=284 −4 Playoff South Korea Jeong Jang 450,000

LPGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2006 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic South Korea Mi-Hyun Kim Lost to birdie on third extra hole
2 2007 Evian Masters South Korea Jeong Jang Won with birdie on first extra hole

Results in LPGA majors

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012
ANA Inspiration T48 T58 T17 T3 CUT T13 T46 CUT T47 T8
U.S. Women's Open T34 CUT T13 T37 T4 T16 T35 CUT T14 T32 CUT
Women's PGA Championship T15 T20 T61 T5 T20 CUT T21 T25 T68 CUT
Women's British Open T13 CUT T13 T8 T16 T23 T9 CUT CUT CUT
Tournament201320142015201620172018201920202021
ANA Inspiration T32 CUT
U.S. Women's Open T61 CUT CUT
Women's PGA Championship CUT DNP CUT
The Evian Championship ^ T52 CUT CUT CUT NT CUT
Women's British Open T9 CUT

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013

  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
"T" tied

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
ANA Inspiration001124129
U.S. Women's Open000114149
Women's PGA Championship000116128
The Evian Championship00000051
Women's British Open000037127
Totals00137215534
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 12 (2004 Kraft Nabisco – 2006 British Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 4 (2005 LPGA - 2006 Kraft Nabisco)

LPGA Tour career summary
YearTournaments
played		Cuts
made*		Wins2nd3rdTop 10sBest
finish		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 80.00
2001 1 1 0 0 0 0 T34 73.00
2002 26 17 0 0 0 4 T5 257,310 39 72.34 43
2003 26 22 0 0 0 0 T12 251,562 39 71.91 36
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 21 18 0 0 0 2 T7 326,392 40 71.32 19
2010 18 14 0 0 0 0 T12 178,044 51 72.39 48
2011 20 16 0 0 0 0 T15 191,101 51 72.65 49
2012 22 16 0 0 0 3 T4 321,472 42 72.27 45
2013 20 16 0 0 0 1 T9 187,237 63 72.79 83
2014 12 6 0 0 0 0 T19 20,447 138 74.03 147
2015 14 6 0 0 0 0 T25 39,575 118 73.38 121
2016 8 0 0 0 0 0 MC 0 n/a 73.64 n/a
2017 5 0 0 0 0 0 MC 0 n/a 73.70 n/a
2018 8 1 0 0 0 0 T42 6,275 168 73.33 n/a
2019 6 0 0 0 0 0 MC 0 n/a 73.11 n/a
2020 7 1 0 0 0 0 72 4,927 n/a 76.60 136
  • Official through 2020 season [16]

* Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

YearWorld
ranking		Source
200619[17]
200722[18]
200842[19]
200958[20]
201098[21]
2011118[22]
201296[23]
2013110[24]
2014230[25]
2015363[26]
2016658[27]
2017unranked[28]
2018733[29]
20191060[30]
20201060[31]

Team appearances

Professional

Solheim Cup Record
YearTotal
matches		Total
W-L-H		Singles
W-L-H		Foursomes
W-L-H		Fourballs
W-L-H		Points
won		Points
%
Career 10 5–4–1 2–0–1 2–3–0 1–1–0 5.5 55.0
2005 4 3–1–0 1–0–0 def. M. Hjorth 2&1 1–1–0 lost w/ C.Kerr 2&1
won w/ C. Kim 4&2		 1–0–0 won w/ C. Kerr 2&1 3.0 75.0
2007 3 1–2–0 1–0–0 def. G. Nocera 4&3 0–1–0 lost w/ M. Pressel 3&2 0–1–0 lost w/ N. Castrale 2up 1.0 33.3
2009 3 1–1–1 0–0–1 halved w/. J.Moodie 1–1–0 won w/ C. Kim 4&2
lost w/ C. Kim 5&4		 0–0–0 1.5 50.0

References
  1. "Natalie Gulbis website – all about Natalie". Archived from the original on August 8, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  2. "2000–01 Women's Golf Roster". Arizona Wildcats.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  3. "Arizona's Natalie Gulbis Decides to Turn Professional". Arizona Wildcats.com. July 18, 2001. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  4. "Qualifying Tournament History 2001". LPGA. October 13, 2001. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  5. "Gulbis gets first win at Evian Masters". Golf.com. Associated Press. July 29, 2007. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  6. Harig, Bob (January 24, 2020). "Natalie Gulbis to retire at end of 2020 LPGA season". ESPN.
  7. Moore, Frazier (January 8, 2009). "Trump rounds up celebs for new 'Apprentice' season". USA Today. Associated Press. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  8. "NBC Announces The 16 All-Star Celebrities Ready To Take On Donald Trump In The Boardroom When 'The Celebrity Apprentice' Premieres Sunday, March 1". The Futon Critic. January 8, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  9. Tokito, Mike (August 27, 2009). "Safeway Classic notes: Junior Seau struggles to keep up with Natalie Gulbis". Oregon Live.com. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  10. "CSI: Season 10 Episode Guide". buddytv.com. January 3, 2010. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  11. "Natalie Gulbis - Body Paint - 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition - SI.com". CNN. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  12. Harig, Bob (March 13, 2013). "Natalie Gulbis withdraws with malaria". ESPN. Associated Press. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  13. "Sorry, fellas! Natalie Gulbis ties the knot". Golf Channel. December 23, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  14. Washchyshyn, Marika. "Congresswoman Gulbis? Natalie Gulbis considering run for Congress in Nevada". Golf.com. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  15. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Personnel to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. May 4, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2019 – via National Archives.
  16. "Natalie Gulbis stats". LPGA. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  17. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 26, 2006.
  18. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 25, 2007.
  19. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 30, 2008.
  20. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 29, 2009.
  21. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 28, 2010.
  22. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 27, 2011.
  23. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 31, 2012.
  24. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 30, 2013.
  25. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 29, 2014.
  26. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 28, 2015.
  27. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 26, 2016.
  28. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 25, 2017.
  29. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 31, 2018.
  30. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 30, 2019.
  31. "Women's World Golf Rankings". December 28, 2020.
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