Tale of the tape
Full Name: Natalie Anne Gulbis
Birthday: January 7, 1983
Hometown: Sacramento, CA
Vitals: 5'9", Blonde, Blue-Green Eyes
Play: Right-Handed

The P's
Natalie Gulbis' dad, John, recently retired from his position with the Sacramento County Probation Department and now travels with her to all her events and really helps her maintain a sense of family on the tour. Natalie's mom, Barbara, is a purchasing director for a medical laboratory in the Sacramento area.

Her Game
From the very beginning it seemed like she was drawn to golf. Starting at the age of 4, she would tag along with dad to the local Sacramento courses and picked up the game from him. By age 7, she won her first tournament, and by age 10 was breaking par.

Growing up Natalie Gulbis tried to be an all-around athlete, also competing at the high school level in diving and gymnastics. She achieved level 8 in gymnastics, which is only three below Olympic level, but her heart was in another sport.

Natalie Gulbis continued to really love playing golf, and in high school (Granite Bay HS) actually played No. 1 singles on the Men's golf team which was a little awkward at first, but everyone really welcomed her and it was a lot of fun.

Natalie finished second in the California State Women's Amateur at 13 in 1996, losing in the final to current LPGA player Dorothy Delasin, but turned it around the following year, beating Delasin in the 1997 final.

At age 14, Natalie Gulbis was the youngest player to qualify for an LPGA event (Michelle Wie at the age of 12 broke that mark in 2002), playing in the Longs Drugs Challenge just 10 miles from home, which was a very exciting experience. She went on to finish high school in three years, and graduated at the age of 16.

After high school Natalie received a scholarship to play collegiate golf at University of Arizona, the defending NCAA champs at the time. As an Arizona freshman in 1999, she won three tournaments and earned All-America honors. The summer before her sophomore year would turn out to be a major turning point in her golfing career. First, she made the cut at the US Women's Open and went on to tie for 34th place as an amateur. Shortly thereafter, she earned female MVP honors at the USA-Japan Collegiate Golf Championship.

Based on Gulbis' success during that summer and the opportunity to make a living playing golf, she decided to turn professional after only one year of collegiate golf and attempted to make the LPGA Tour by heading to Q-School later that fall.

The success Natalie had during the summer followed her to the fall in Qualifying School, where she won her sectional qualifier by eight shots and tied for third in the final, which meant she had made the Tour fully exempt.

2002 marked her rookie year on Tour. Natalie Gulbis had a great learning experience, traveled to new cities, and met some really great people and new friends along the way. She ended up finishing second in Rookie of the Year points, and most importantly, found a permanent home on Tour where ever since she been living the dream!