U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 23, 2005

Natalie Gulbis

Q. Thoughts on your round.

NATALIE GULBIS: I hit the ball pretty well, hit my irons really well. Missed a few drives, found myself in the rough but made a few birdies to kind of compensate for that.

The course played about how we thought it was. The greens were a little bit quicker, for sure. If you are above the hole, they are pretty fast. But happy to shoot par or better on the first round.

Q. Disappointed on how well you played 18 and then the result?

NATALIE GULBIS: (Laughs) You can't do anything. I hit two good shots, hit a great drive and hit a shot. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. Once I was above the hole I was kind of trying -- if I got par, great. Trying to protect bogey. Get done before this weather looks like it's going to hit.

Q. (Inaudible)?

NATALIE GULBIS: I hit driver L-wedge to about 15 feet.

Q. No. 3?

NATALIE GULBIS: Driver, L-wedge or sand wedge to about six, seven feet above the hole.

Q. No. 5, birdie. Par 5.

NATALIE GULBIS: Actually I putted it in from about 20 feet from the back fringe.

Q. No. 6, bogey.

NATALIE GULBIS: Three-putted the par 3 from above the hole.

Q. 7, birdie.

NATALIE GULBIS: Driver, 9-iron or 8-iron to about two feet.

Q. 10, bogey.

NATALIE GULBIS: Just off the fringe, didn't get up-and-down.

Q. 11.

NATALIE GULBIS: Three-putted above the hole.

Q. 13.

NATALIE GULBIS: (Inaudible).

Q. 14, bogey.

NATALIE GULBIS: Didn't get up-and-down from just off the fringe.

Q. Birdie on 17.

NATALIE GULBIS: About eight feet right of it with L-wedge.

Q. 18 was bogey.

NATALIE GULBIS: Above the hole, didn't get up-and-down.

Q. You only had seven pars, is that typical of you, kind of up-and-down, a lot of birdies and a lot of bogeys?

NATALIE GULBIS: Yeah, it is (laughs). Yeah, I mean sometimes. The tournaments, good tournaments, that I have had, I have had a lot of birdies and cleaned up the bogies. Like I said, got to clean up a couple of those.

Q. What were you thinking when you were 3-under through five holes?

NATALIE GULBIS: To continue to hit fairways and greens. But it's always nice getting off to a good start. That definitely sets a good tone for the day.

Q. Not many people under par, I guess, you got to be pleased no matter how you finish. Overall score under par pretty good?

NATALIE GULBIS: Absolutely. Going in today we were trying to shoot pretty much par or better.

Q. Did you find the greens pretty receptive?

NATALIE GULBIS: Some of them. Some of them are. It just depends on, you know, some of them spin back, the greens are quite a bit different. Every green is pretty much a unique animal.

Q. Did you have to chip out most of the time when you were in the rough?

NATALIE GULBIS: Yeah, I did. I was in the rough probably three times. I had to chip out twice and one time I got to get like an 8-iron on it. Once you go in there, the rough is bad. You can't do anything.

Q. An up-and-down round, you agreed that might be typical of a round of golf, but your results this year have been fairly steady, pretty good finishes --

NATALIE GULBIS: It didn't seem up-and-down. I had a couple of 3-putts, which didn't help, then a couple of irons. I actually hit well and was just on the fringe to a short pin and had missed a couple of up-and-downs. So it's not like I was kind of all over the course.

Q. What have you done better maybe this year than say last year?

NATALIE GULBIS: Worked hard on my swing, trying to shorten my swing and make it more consistent.

Q. It looked like you weren't quite --

NATALIE GULBIS: Just trying to get it -- it's still pretty long with my driver, but with high hopes. Hopefully it's getting more compact.

Q. Did you hit a lot of drivers today?

NATALIE GULBIS: No, I think I hit probably 8, 3-woods and two 5-woods then the rest drivers.

Q. Stay with that plan going forward?

NATALIE GULBIS: Yes, unless it's cold in the morning or we get some weather. I know the temp might drop tomorrow, that will obviously change.

Q. Now that you have been around once, anything you might rethink or tweak for tomorrow?

NATALIE GULBIS: No. We had a pretty good round actually. I missed a few shots, but my caddie did a great job mapping out the golf course, got a lot of golf on it coming in.

Q. It says here 26 putts for the day. Is that pretty typical? Are you pretty happy with that?

NATALIE GULBIS: I am not sure. I focus more on my fairways and greens than on the putting stats. It's kinds of a hard stat to measure because you could be on the fringe, or like I hit a birdie putt off the fringe. I don't think that counts as a putt. (Laughs).

End of FastScripts.