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LPGA STATE FARM CLASSIC

June 4, 2009

Natalie Gulbis

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS

JASON TAYLOR: Let's knock out the scorecard. You started on the back, so a birdie on No. 10.
NATALIE GULBIS: You're going to ask me how far I hit.
JASON TAYLOR: How far and what did you hit with.
NATALIE GULBIS: I have no idea (laughter).
10, I think I hit 8-iron to five feet.
JASON TAYLOR: No. 11.
NATALIE GULBIS: 11, I hit pitching wedge, maybe 9-iron, to about two feet.
Then I 3-putted 12. Bogeyed 12.
13 was a par 5. I hit a wedge to five feet.
JASON TAYLOR: 17, birdie.
NATALIE GULBIS: 17, I hit a 6-iron to about 15 feet above the hole.
JASON TAYLOR: Bogey on 18.
NATALIE GULBIS: On 18, I drove it through the fairway and into the rough. Was standing kind of half in, half out of the bunker.
On No. 1, the par 5, I hit a wedge to about 10 feet underneath the hole.
No. 3, I flew it into the gallery. Didn't get up and down.
No. 3, the par 4, I hit 8-iron to about 20 feet.
Is 5 the par 5?
JASON TAYLOR: Par 3. Birdie.
NATALIE GULBIS: 8-iron to about 10, 15 feet.
Then I went for it in two on 6. 8, hit it into the trees, punched out, made bogey.
JASON TAYLOR: 4-under today. Not a bad way to start the State Farm Classic. You're two shots from the lead right now. If you would, talk a little bit about the day you had.
NATALIE GULBIS: This was my first time playing a competitive round on Panther Creek. I hadn't played at the State Farm since it was at the Rail. I'm happy to be back here playing in Springfield.
I got in here on Monday night, played the golf course on Tuesday, was really excited to see the golf course. Yesterday we had some tough weather, didn't get a good look at it.
The course is in great shape. With the wind being down, you could definitely make some birdies out there.
JASON TAYLOR: Questions.

Q. What did you do especially well?
NATALIE GULBIS: I think this is a ball-striker's golf course. Even though there are some fairways that are wide and generous, you have to be on the right side of the fairways. I hit a lot of fairways today. So that definitely set it up.
It's nice having an event coming off an off week. I got to go home to Las Vegas, work with my coach, working on things. Just been working hard.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: I hit it well on the range. When you're hitting the ball well on the range, I like to go out and be aggressive. If you're not hitting it so good on the range, you kind of hit to the center of the greens, see how your swing continues on.
The conditions were perfect. We were the first group out in the afternoon. There wasn't any wind. The greens are in such good shape. Just went right at the pins.

Q. Anything in particular you were looking to work on when you went home?
NATALIE GULBIS: Iron play. I had a pretty good stretch of events where I finished in the top three all weeks. I think some of the success I had was my irons. Really worked on maintaining good iron play and cleaned up my driver a little bit, too.

Q. Who do you work with?
NATALIE GULBIS: I work with Butch Harmon in Las Vegas.

Q. Talk about this two-week stretch here in the LPGA, how important it is to peak at the right time, how you try to work on that, make that a reality.
NATALIE GULBIS: Well, this is a very important stretch for a couple different reasons. One, this is a big event. It's a big purse. Next week is a major. So we have four majors on tour. You always want to peak at the majors.
But this is Solheim Cup year. Every single spot, every single point, every stroke could be the difference between you making the Solheim Cup. I'm definitely one of those players that would love to play on that team, as well as there's 25, 30 girls that would love to come up.
On a Solheim Cup year, a lot of things can happen. A lot of players move up and down. Actually, my last time here in Springfield was when we were in -- I remember walking up the fairway. Springfield was saying good-bye to the American Solheim Cup team.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: Very, very important. It's the shots that you get up and down. Like I got up and down on 18 from just missing it by a couple yards. It wasn't a very easy up and down. It's the shot that closes out the day or keeps the momentum of a round going.
Like you said, I'm not one of the longest players. I played with Michelle Wie today. She out-drove me by a lot, 30, 40, 50 yards, I don't know, all day long.
So I don't always have the luxury of going and reaching every single par 5 or having short clubs into every par 4.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: I've been playing with Michelle Wie for the last eight years. We were joking about it. My first LPGA event was her first event. I had been paired with her 20 plus times probably. A lot.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: No, we have never talked about it. If she ever asks me about it, I'm sure we would have a couple of good laughs.
She has a great team around her that she gets to bounce ideas off of. We've both been very fortunate to have a good fan base out there.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: Well, it's interesting saying that Michelle Wie is a rookie on tour because I've been playing with her for eight years. We've seen her on tour anywhere from a few events to up to eight events on tour. She's very familiar with being out here and the players all know her. We're excited to have her out here full-time. She's a great addition to the LPGA Tour. She brings a lot of positive things to us.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: I watched the event on TV last year. Just hearing feedback from players, they said it played really firm and really fast. I know that they've lengthened it. The rough is healthy. If you get in that rough, you're bunting it out. It's set up like a major with that sort of style rough. So if you're not hitting fairways, it's going to be a really long day.

Q. Golf is such an individual sport. When did the Solheim Cup first come to your mind as a young person? What was it like playing at Crooked Stick in '05? How much is that a part of your goal every two years, to make the team?
NATALIE GULBIS: I've been watching Solheim Cup since I started playing, playing competitive. So probably 20 years it seems like (laughter). I've always loved to watch the Solheim Cup because it's the Olympics for women's golf. It's a team event. You get to represent your country. Crooked Stick was amazing. I was playing for Nancy Lopez, which was great. Just the teammates.
You really see in a Solheim Cup year, the team starts coming together. The American players start coming together. We start having team dinners. You start having team fittings. Even if you're somewhere close to making that team, you start to feel that it is a Solheim year. It's a big deal being an American and playing on that team.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: I do have a strong connection. I actually stay on the Rail golf course. I see it every morning. We barbecue out every night looking at it. I loved playing the Rail. I had good success there. I loved the galleries out there. So it's nice that we're still playing in Springfield and the galleries have come out to Panther Creek. I really enjoyed my time at the Rail. I like staying there.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: I think so. I think the media has been very honest and very fair with me. They had every right to make comments when I hadn't won a tournament, because I was thinking those same things. I don't think they could ever be tougher on me than I was on myself. They've always been fair, whether I've been playing a Solheim Cup, having a good round or a bad round. They've been really good.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: Well, the way it is right now, I've been very lucky. The media has been great to me. The fans have always been really supportive of me. So have the players. I've done some things away from the golf course, like Celebrity Apprentice, having a TV show. The players have been great. Even this year they've been watching it alongside with me, telling me, Don't tell me what happens. I think the best have come from the players. The players have always been really good to me. That's what's important.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: 18 and 9 are really tough holes. They're tough driving holes. They're both long. 18 is 417. I think 9 is over 400 yards. But they're very narrow off the tee. Both greens are difficult. So you know those holes, when you're coming in, whether it's just to make the turn or finishing up the tournament, you've got to pay attention to.

Q. (No microphone.)
NATALIE GULBIS: I think it has been lengthened because I know that that was a hole where you were battling whether or not you were going to carry the water. It's just a straight dogleg now. It's like 280 to the bunker. I just hit driver at the bunker, then I had 9-iron into the green.

Q. What did you learn from Celebrity Apprentice that you can use here at the LPGA and the competitive nature?
NATALIE GULBIS: Good question. What did I learn? I learned when you get celebrities together how much money you can raise. That show raised two or three million dollars in just a couple weeks when we shot it. It was not just really one celebrity that was out there doing foundations or doing events, but it was celebrities that appealed to a lot of different demographics. I think that's something that's really cool, when you bring celebrities together for a good cause. We do that a lot every week on tour. But it's also fun to see that on tour we do it with other sports, we bring other athletes, other celebrities into charity events to ultimately raise a lot of money.
JASON TAYLOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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