Sponsored by
Natalie was born in California in 1983. By the time she reached 7 years old, she had won her first tournament. In three
years, at age 10, she was breaking par.
She played in her first LPGA tour event as an amateur at the
age of 14 (handicap of 2). She attended Granite Bay High School and graduated when
she was 16. She turned professional at age 18 after playing for one season on
the women's golf team at the University of Arizona.
Gulbis did not win a tournament in the first five years
of her professional career but still finished sixth on the LPGA money list in
2005 with over $1 million (U.S.) in earnings and played on the winning United
States Solheim
Cup team. She placed in the top 10 in four consecutive major
championships from the 2005 LPGA
Championship to the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Gulbis' first professional win came in 2007 at the Evian
Masters where she defeated Jeong Jang in a playoff to claim the winner's share of
the $3,000,000 purse.