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WEETABIX WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 29, 2004

Natalie Gulbis

SUNNINGDALE, ENGLAND

DANA VON LOUDA: Very nice round. You finished with a 68. Four birdies. Bogey free opening round. You are tied with Catriona Matthew and Annika.

Can you start with some opening comments about today and we'll go over your score card.

NATALIE GULBIS: I didn't have any bogeys. Definitely that's always nice coming into a British Open, you know, having birdies. I think a lot of players have birdies, but to have a bogey free round is nice.

DANA VON LOUDA: Talk about the course a little bit.

NATALIE GULBIS: Well, when we started off, you can get off to a really good start. There are two par 5's that especially for longer players that are very reachable. You can hit irons (inaudible) is short. You can get off to a good start.

But by the Back 9, the wind had picked up a little bit. This afternoon I think it's going to keep the wind up. So we definitely got the good end of the draw being in the morning.

DANA VON LOUDA: Let's go ahead and do your score card. Birdie on 1.

NATALIE GULBIS: Had about a 15 foot putt for eagle, 2 putted.

DANA VON LOUDA: What club did you hit?

NATALIE GULBIS: I hit a 16 degree (wailer/whaler), which is kind of like a 5 wood or 7 wood.

DANA VON LOUDA: No. 3.

NATALIE GULBIS: Not three I hit 3 wood, L wedge to about 10 feet, made birdie.

DANA VON LOUDA: 10.

NATALIE GULBIS: On 10, hit driver, 5 iron, 2 putted for birdie.

DANA VON LOUDA: How far was the first putt?

NATALIE GULBIS: About 40 feet.

On No. 11, I hit driver, L wedge from about 50 yards to about 10 or 15 feet.

Q. We thought you had a birdie on the second hole. What was the confusion?

NATALIE GULBIS: No. The 2nd hole is a par 5. I had an iron in my hand. I came up just short of the green. I putted past maybe 25 feet, then I 2 putted. I think she assumed since I had an iron in my hand on a par 5 that I was on in two.

Q. Did you have any other chances?

NATALIE GULBIS: Yes, lots of chances, a couple good saves. Back and forth. They evened themselves out the.

I had a real good chance on the last couple holes, then I also made a couple 10 , 15 foot putts for far. Kept my round going.

Q. You play well overseas. I guess you like it here?

NATALIE GULBIS: It's just fun. You learn new shots here. It's completely different golf to what we have in the States. What you have to the hole, if it's 150 to the hole, you could be hitting a club that's only supposed to go 120, 125. You just have to play smart.

My caddie helped me a lot with the course management today.

Q. What is the advantage of participating in golf over gymnastics?

NATALIE GULBIS: Well, when I was a gymnast, so it's kind of fearless. It's a lot easier to make a putt and hit a shot than to land a flip on a four inch apparatus. You just learn discipline and work ethics through gymnastics which definitely helped me get to this level in golf.

Q. Do you still practice gymnastics?

NATALIE GULBIS: No. When I try to do a flip or something now, I see stars. But being a gymnast, just working out, I like to run, do anything active.

Q. A lot less distractions when you come over to play here?

NATALIE GULBIS: In the US, I'm getting really good fans there at pretty much every event. It's nice they come out to support me. I still have some friends and family that came over this week, too.

Q. Is your dad here this week?

NATALIE GULBIS: No, he doesn't come over to the overseas events.

Q. Are you still working with Butch?

NATALIE GULBIS: Yes.

Q. How long have you been working with him?

NATALIE GULBIS: Since I turned professional, for three years.

Q. What are you working on with him?

NATALIE GULBIS: Most of the work that we do is in the off season. Then we just try to clean up little things here and there, get rid of some bad habits.

Q. You have bad habits?

NATALIE GULBIS: I think everybody has bad habits (laughter).

Q. What are yours?

NATALIE GULBIS: I used to have a lot of moving parts to my golf swing. Just try to keep it more simple.

Q. How easy are you finding that?

NATALIE GULBIS: Not very easy. Change is really difficult. But definitely worthwhile in the end.

Q. Does Butch ever talk about Tiger or other players when coaching you?

NATALIE GULBIS: Oh, absolutely.

Q. Does he show you what works for Tiger?

NATALIE GULBIS: Not necessarily for me. But he shows me positions. You know, it's the same thing, he works with Adam Scott and Darren Clark. Some of the strengths they have in their swing. I have strengths in my swing. Sometimes we look at them to compare, we look at their different positions, what (inaudible) is not working with. But also I've had the opportunity to practice with those guys, as well, and learn from them.

Q. What impresses you most about seeing the othersÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½ swings?

NATALIE GULBIS: Well, now I see Darren and Adam more than Tiger. I love being around Darren. He's a lot of fun. He's from around here pretty close, isn't he? Adam, I could watch him hit balls all day. He's got such a great golf swing.

Q. Do you have a calendar out? And how has it been doing?

NATALIE GULBIS: Very well. Been out for probably a month now. It's doing really well in the US. I don't know exactly the number, sorry. I don't know how many it's sold or how many it hasn't sold, but it's doing very well.

Q. ItÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½s been our for a month?

NATALIE GULBIS: Yeah, about a month, since the US Open.

Q. IsnÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½t that an odd time to put a calendar out?

NATALIE GULBIS: No, because most of the people aren't pushing 2004 calendars anymore. You know, this is when a lot of them start coming into stores. Summertime and usually right around the holidays, they sell the most amount of calendars, they told me.

Q. Where was it shot?

NATALIE GULBIS: I shot it in between events for a day in Vegas, at my home at Lake Las Vegas, in between the Vegas event and the Atlanta event.

Q. What are they shots of?

NATALIE GULBIS: They're all shots of me.

Q. Wearing from what to what?

NATALIE GULBIS: Anything from golf clothes to swimsuits to workout clothes, casual clothes. Kind of a combination. I thought it was going to be over here. I'm surprised it's not over here.

Q. Was it a difficult decision to do a calendar?

NATALIE GULBIS: No, not really, because it took about three quarters of a day to shoot. As far as marketing, my agents market it, the company who does the calendar market it. All I pretty much do for it is sign it when fans buy it, do some autograph signings throughout the week, maybe an hour or two a week.

It's nice because there's not a lot of calendars out there that sell there's not a lot of female athletes out there right now that have calendars.

Q. Do you remember what you are wearing in July?

NATALIE GULBIS: In July? I have no idea.

Q. Some Weetabix clothes?

NATALIE GULBIS: No, I don't think so.

DANA VON LOUDA: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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