Less than a month ago, Natalie Gulbis sat in the media center at Pine Needles Golf Club, magic marker in hand, asking if anyone knew how to spell “Cristal” in order to do a little relabeling on an off-brand bottle of champagne for U.S. Women’s Open champion Cristie Kerr.
Today, Gulbis, only recently dried off from the bubbly- bath that accompanied her first career victory, is possibly four days away from capturing an even more impressive prize – becoming the first woman to win a professional event at hallowed St. Andrews.
“I’ve seen it so many times in major events on TV and watched Tiger (Woods) win here and all of these players play here,” Gulbis said in a teleconference call with reporters before the Women’s British Open, the final women’s major of the season. “To be able to play the same hole and be in the same bunkers that they were in, and I walked over the (Swilken) bridge today.
“I mean, I have a picture of Jack Nicklaus in my office standing on that bridge, and I got to stand on that bridge today. It’s really, really special.”
During its 253-year history, there have been amateur women’s events at St. Andrews, and there is even a locker room for women, but from the onset, the overriding sentiment seemed to be captured by a sign that Annika Sorenstam said she once spied outside the headquarters for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.
“No dogs. No women.”
That unwelcome mat has been removed, and this week the competitors can enter the clubhouse and even use the main locker room. In a lighter moment, Laura Davies, a native of Great Britain, recently said that even with the opportunity to literally walk into history, she would likely don her golf shoes out in the parking lot.
However, even Davies can’t deny that a victory this weekend would be special. Not only would she be getting her first win in six years, before adoring local fans, it would also ensure her selection into the World Golf Hall of Fame. But at age 43, Davies has found any win a difficult proposition, one that likely has increased with the emergence of Gulbis, who won last week’s Evian Masters.
Throughout her six-year LPGA career, Gulbis has been dismissed as strictly eye candy, a label she didn’t exactly shy away from, what with her best-selling calendars, reality television shows and inclusion in men’s magazines lists of the world’s sexiest women.
Somehow, given her many off-course obligations, the 24-year-old did manage to put in the work necessary to win, hiring renowned teacher Butch Harmon, practicing as much as any player on tour and even making the 2005 U.S. Solheim Cup team, where she earned three points for the Americans in their victory.
Gulbis just hadn’t won. That changed last week in France, when she beat Jeong Jang in the first hole of a playoff. When she sank the winning putt, Gulbis seemed dazed; days later, she said the feeling hadn’t subsided.
“It’s like living in a dream,” Gulbis said. “Being an athlete, you try to win every week, and it’s always a test of your patience when you’re trying to win and you haven’t won yet.
“I knew that my time was coming as long as I kept doing the right things, as long as I kept to what my goals were and kept to the game plan, and kept working hard on my swing. I always had the belief that I would win, and it happened.”
Now, besides being known as just another pretty face or a product of marketing hype, outsiders likely will allow Gulbis to show them how passionate she is about the game. Tuesday, she went out to experience St. Andrews for the first time – at 6:30 a.m.
During her practice, she said she was awed by the sense of history oozing from the grounds, even as she was learning how to best navigate the course.
“There’s so much that I need to learn about the game of golf; it’s fun to watch other players try new spots, it’s fun to experiment with new shots,” Gulbis said. “Today for the first time I putted from 100 yards; usually I only putt from 5 or 10 yards off the green. And I saw Beth Daniel today putt from 60 yards off. She was with Meg Mallon and I went up to them and said, ‘Why are you guys putting from there?’
“And they were like, ‘Try it.’ So I’m looking forward to getting on that same hole and trying that same shot. It’s just fun to learn new stuff.”
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
SPOTLIGHT: K.J. Choi
Who’s next?
This season has seen three first-time major championship winners, at the Masters (Zach Johnson), U.S. Open (Angel Cabrera) and British Open (Padraig Harrington). If the trend continues at next week’s PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., the shortlist of possibilities would have to include K.J. Choi. He initially made his mark athletically as a weightlifter in his native South Korea. On tour for seven years, Choi won four events before this year, but this season he has raised his game to a different level. In June, he won Jack Nicklaus’ event, the Memorial, and the following month was the first winner of Tiger Woods’ event, the AT&T National. Two weeks ago, he contended in the British but faded to a tie for eighth. Choi has said he feels he is at the point where winning a major would be a realistic goal. “That’s my life goal, my life’s dream – to become the first Asian player to win a major,” he said. That’s something I’m going to strive very hard for and work at.”
On the fast track
“I had a third at the British, a win, now playing with Tiger. It’s great.”
Andres Romero, on his schedule the past three weeks. The Argentine almost won in just his third major championship, and then did win at the European Tour’s Deutsche Bank Players Championship. That got him a berth in the Bridgestone Invitational, where he’ll be paired with Tiger Woods for the first two rounds.
Fun with numbers
This week’s Bridgestone Invitational marks the 26th official World Golf Championships event. Here’s a look at some figures from the series.
25 – events in which Stuart Appleby has played. The Australian is the only player to compete in all of the tournaments.
24 – events for British Open champ Padraig Harrington – he didn’t qualify for the 1999 Match Play.
24 – WGC events in which Tiger Woods has played.
22 – top-10 finishes Woods has in the events.
13 – victories for Woods.
9th – place: Woods’ worst finish in a WGC stroke-play event, the 2004 American Express Championship.
25th – is where Woods would stand on the all-time official PGA Tour money list with only his winnings from the WGC events ($17,840,830).
THIS WEEK:
PGA Tour
World Golf Championships: Bridgestone Invitational, Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio.
What’s up: Those looking to gauge where Tiger Woods stands heading into next week’s PGA Championship might get a sign from this event – he’s won it five times in eight starts.
Reno-Tahoe Open, Montreux Golf and Country Club, Reno, Nev.
What’s up: A chance for the relative have-nots on tour to gain some valuable FedEx Cup points – there are only three weeks left on the “regular-season” schedule. Players have from now until then to reach the top 144 and qualify for the “playoffs.”
LPGA Tour
Ricoh Women’s British Open, the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland.
What’s up: Another week, another British Open. After the men and the seniors, this week it’s the women who chase a major championship. Sherri Steinhauer is the holder of the title – three of her seven career wins have been in this event.
Champions Tour
3M Championship, TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minn.
What’s up: David Edwards is the defending champion, but this could be a good week for Hale Irwin to break out of his slump – he’s won this event three times.
