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P&G BEAUTY NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY JOHN Q. HAMMONSJuly 2, 2008Natalie GulbisROGERS, ARKANSAS ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Natalie, thanks for coming in and joining us today. I know that you enjoyed our Northwest Arkansas event quite a bit, and tonight you're even involved with the Pantene Beautiful Lengths event that's going on, so if you could just talk about being back here in Arkansas this year and tonight's event. NATALIE GULBIS: Well, I did that. Actually I started off my relationship with this event last year, I did the media days, so I got to see kind of this event unfold and how exciting the event would be. And last year, even though it was shortened with weather, I think it was a fantastic event and all the players really enjoyed it; and I think you can tell by the quality of the field that you guys have here this week. All the players are really excited to be back here. I've spent a little time on the golf course. It's in fantastic shape. So as long as we can keep the rain away, I think we're in good shape. And I'm excited about the event tonight, again, to be a part of that, and last night, the Beautiful Lengths, you know, where they cut the hair and they make wigs for cancer patients, for women. That was a lot of fun to be a part of that, and also last night, of course, you know, getting my hair and makeup done and playing in clothes is a nice perk, too, just out there being involved. ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Okay. Questions for Natalie. Q. Natalie, your fitness, I know it's something you stress a lot. Kind of tell me when did that kind of start. When did you first get serious about doing that and what's your daily regimen, your daily routine? NATALIE GULBIS: As far as fitness goes, I was a gymnast as well as a golfer growing up, so I've always been a high-energy kid. I've always been involved in a lot of physical exercise, so growing up I played golf and I was also a gymnast. So when I stopped gymnastics, as I progressed as a golfer, I needed another outlet. My parents were both runners and gym rats, so it was a natural transition to spend time in the gym. And now I think players even more are getting into the gym and spending as much time on their physical fitness and their stretching and their training as they are on the golf course. Obviously Annika and Tiger have helped spearhead that whole movement. My regimen is I work out first thing in the morning. I like to work out between 5:30 and 7 and get it out of the way because I have a pretty busy day, and sometimes something could happen with practice or with weather and you just don't know if you're going to be able to get it in. I usually do cardio for 30 or 40 minutes and lift for the amount of time I have left. And I have different workouts, depending on the spots, what I have available for me. This week it's really nice because we have a nice gym in the hotel and also a really nice gym that's close, but sometimes you don't have that and we just run or use the fitness trailer that travels on the Tour. Q. How much do you use the fitness trailer and how valuable is that at times to be able to just run in there even quickly and do a little something before you go out? NATALIE GULBIS: It's definitely important from a fitness standpoint, but it's even more important because we have physical therapists in there. I'm in there almost every day, and there's probably 75, 80 percent of the players use the physical therapy trailer to get stretched out for injuries. I think if you guys ever really saw the list of injuries these players are going through, they're taped and iced and all over the place, just like any other sport, and I'm thankful for the physical therapists who get us out there and keep us healthy, and we have access to doctors through them. Doesn't matter if you have a cold or cut or you need to get in to see an x-ray or MRI, they have that at their fingertips at any time. Q. Just in general how is your golf game coming along? How has it been coming into this? NATALIE GULBIS: I struggled last week at the Open. I really struggled with my driver, spent a lot of time kind of all over the place. So I've been testing a lot of drivers here for the last couple of days here. Luckily TaylorMade has a trailer out here, and even in my Pro-Am I played the 1-driver on the front and last on the back 9. So my irons have been good and every other aspect of my game is, so when I can choose a driver between two -- I have really two good candidates -- I think it'll be ready to go. Q. I think you had a pretty good first round at the Open, if I remember. Was the putting, how was it last week also? NATALIE GULBIS: Well, everything except for my driving was good in the Open. The first day I scrambled a little bit better and probably drew a little bit better lies in the rough, but the second day I was in trouble a lot off the tee. So that's what I've been cleaning up this week. Q. Talk about how your swing has evolved over the years. You started off with your club face really shut at the top and now it's more open. Talk about how that's helped you become more consistent hitting the ball. NATALIE GULBIS: Butch Harmon has been the best thing to ever happen in my golf game, for sure. I started working with him once I turned professional. I was a good player, but I relied on timing, and he has made a more efficient and simpler swing that's not only easier to fix when it goes a little bit off, but has been very consistent for me over the years and helped me as a player, so we've done that by basically hitting a lot of three-quarter shots, a lot of three-quarter shots and trying to keep it shorter. Q. How often do you guys work together, work on your swing? NATALIE GULBIS: We do a lot of different creative things, so I got to see him a couple weeks ago. I was at home in Las Vegas. We do video, shoot video across back and forth, and I talk to him several times a day, whether it be in the morning, hey, I'm working on this on the range or talking about drivers. So we have constant interaction every day somehow. Q. You mentioned kind of being a pioneer at this tournament. Were there players that didn't play last year that are playing this year that have asked you about it, and if so, what have you told them about the golf course? NATALIE GULBIS: Absolutely. I was really excited when I got to do the media day because you don't know what an event is going to be like. I got to see the golf course and see the community and see how excited Rogers was to have this event. So it was fun for me to go back to Tour after last year. They knew that I had done the media day and just get everybody excited to come here and tell them a little bit what it's about, because you don't know. You're coming into an event blind, and I think the players that did not come, they've got such great feedback, even though the event was shortened because of weather, which happens all the time on Tour, I think players were excited to come back. And it speaks for itself. You've got a great field here this week. I don't know how many of the Top 10, Top 50 are here, but it's a really strong field and players are excited to be here, especially coming after an Open, which is a week people usually take off. Q. As far as the two different drivers you said you were working on, which two are you looking at? NATALIE GULBIS: They're both TaylorMade. They're just slightly different in the makeup of the shaft. I had a driver I was using for a while, and it broke on a plane, so I'm just trying to find that combination back. Q. When do you hope to make that decision? NATALIE GULBIS: Today. At the latest tomorrow. I have two really good clubs, so I think either one will be fine. Q. How did you break the club on the plane? NATALIE GULBIS: The head popped off. Just the head came off the club. Just handled a little bit rougher than it should have been. That's the first time I'd had a piece of equipment be broken in 12 years, but I'm really lucky because TaylorMade -- we have access to people over there, and I have the shaft and they've been able to get something that's really close. Who knows, it might be even better. Q. What kind of relationship do you have with Stacy Lewis? How much have you known her before now, and I don't know, was it kind of surprising to you to see her play so well in the Open round or is that something you kind of expected her to come out and play well? NATALIE GULBIS: Last year I met her at this event when we were doing some of the media stuff afterwards. She seemed really nice and obviously a very accomplished player, and she played great in the Open. I just watched the Open on TV. I don't know her that well. She was really, really nice and she played great. To play that well against that field on that golf course is impressive. Q. How hard will it be for her to adjust to come out on Tour like this. Do you remember when you came out, what's it like to go through that first adjustment period? NATALIE GULBIS: For me it was really difficult. The first year it was a lot. You're going from only playing ten tournaments a year and having everything handled for you. You're playing on a college team. They make your rooms. They make your travel. They fold your clothes. You don't do anything. You just show up and practice. When you're a professional, you're playing 30, maybe more, events internationally. You're traveling. You might have a team around you as well that you're managing or trying to put together to help you out, and it's a big adjustment, new golf courses, new cities, new weeks. It's a lot of different stuff. You have a caddy. But I'm sure she's got some good people around who help her. Q. What is it you like or dislike here? NATALIE GULBIS: What I like about the golf course is it's a ball striker's golf course. You have to play well to be in the right spot for these greens. If you're not in the right spot, it's going to be a really long week, especially holes like 17 or 18, even though you're hitting the green, that's not going to be enough. What I dislike about this golf course is when it went underwater last year. That's about the only thing. It's a great golf course. Beautiful tee to green. Actually, I heard they're going to do some construction on it after we leave and I was surprised it's in such good shape. Q. One thing I've noticed about players like you and Paula and Morgan is you're so popular with fans and kids, but when you're on the course, though, you know, you guys are pretty hungry and competitive out there. Do all of you kind of compete with each other with your competitiveness? NATALIE GULBIS: Absolutely. I mean we're out here first and foremost as golfers. We're extremely competitive. We're friends off the golf course, when you're in an airport maybe or playing on a Solheim Cup, but when we're out there on the golf course, we're extremely competitive, not only against ourselves and the golf course, but against each other, and I think the personalities away from the golf course, we love what we do. Those three girls you just mentioned, we're living our dream. It's really exciting out here. It is. It's just like living our dream. We get to travel all over the world and compete against the best players in the world, and we're just so well accepted by the fans, and it's a lot of fun for us, too. Q. In Paula's case she had a lot of success instantly. How much confidence do you get as a young 18-year-old player when you have that kind of success early on in your career like that? NATALIE GULBIS: A ton. She was such an accomplished junior player and amateur player. It was not her first time. Same thing with Morgan and Christie, these players -- and Lorena -- have been really successful at every single level, so they continue to build on it one step at a time. Q. From a golf and modeling standpoint, Jan Stephenson was kind of you maybe 25 years ago. Is she somebody that was a role model for you or how do you see her and what will it be like with her being out here this week? NATALIE GULBIS: It's great Jan's out here. I actually haven't seen her this week, but I've been -- there was a lot of players before me that I have looked up to, including Jan Stephenson and Annika and Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel and Kathy Whitworth. There were so many great players, and there's a lot of things that I think we related to what they did on the golf course, off. Actually, my hero growing up was Nancy Lopez, she was my favorite and somebody that always I loved the way she treated fans. I loved watching her on the golf course and she was a great player, too. Q. I watched the "Natalie Gulbis Show" last night. NATALIE GULBIS: Did you? Which one was it? Q. It was the one where you fell asleep in the van and you were doing the shoot. NATALIE GULBIS: Yes. It was a Crown Plaza commercial. Q. Do you still have the ability to do that, fall asleep at the drop of a hat? NATALIE GULBIS: Oh, yes. I can sleep anywhere. I think, you know, you get used to that with the traveling, but that was a long day. I went back from Hawaii to shoot the Crown Plaza commercial. I was tired. Q. Don't fall asleep right now! NATALIE GULBIS: (Laughs). Not during the day, but in the night. I get up early and I work hard during the day, and I enjoy my sleep too. Q. How does this course rank compared to other courses on the Tour that you've played, as far as quality and challenging? NATALIE GULBIS: As far as challenging, I think what's really going to dictate that is where they put the pins and how much they speed up the greens. The rough is long out here, and especially around the greens, so if they put the pins in spots where the ball, if you're not in the perfect spot, you could be in the rough or you get above it and it could be really fast. The course could be really tough and you're going to see scores right around par, and they could be a little bit more generous. As far as conditions, it's one of the best. It's pure. This golf course doesn't have many marks on it. It's in fantastic shape. Q. How much difference is it from last year in September to this year in June? NATALIE GULBIS: Well, the golf course was in great shape last year until that day. I remember getting here last year, and it played firm and fast, and the greens released, and it was pure and lush, and even the greens were firm, if anything. And then we got the rain that just completely washed everything out. Q. Some of the young American players have been kind of knocking on the door of the LPGA in recent years. What has to happen to get more Americans in the top of the LPGA? NATALIE GULBIS: I think we're there now. Actually, our No. 1 player is an American, but Paula, I don't know if she's third or fourth in the world, she's not far behind. I mean if you looked at just the U.S. Open last week, you had American players up there as well. You've had a lot of American winners this year so far, so I think that there is -- what's great about the Tour is since we are such a strong international Tour, you've got a combination of really players from all over the world, and it really showcases the best in the world. We have great American players. We have great players from Korea, Sweden, Norway, Mexico. We have a really good mix. Q. Is there something American junior golf needs to do to increase numbers and get more girls involved? NATALIE GULBIS: Yeah. Watch the event this week. I think or just really watching us play. I think, you know, I was excited, I was telling the P&G guys today, I'm excited the event is on CBS. That's a big deal for us to have the event on network TV. We'll reach a lot more audiences, and every time we get onto network TV, there's going to be more and more people. We're excited about the Tour, but when you get a sponsor that's great about putting us on network TV, you get more households, and hopefully those girls are going to be watching us this weekend. ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Natalie, thank you so much for your time. Good luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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