Natalie Gulbis starts hot, but can't close on first victory
Painful. I slit my thumb chopping an onion while watching the playoff between Natalie Gulbis and Mi Hyun Kim. That, along with the onion and Natalie's as-close-to-victory-as-you-can-get, almost made me cry.
The ESPN2 coverage started out when Natalie was on fire. Decked out in her orange Adidas outfit (fitting for Cleveland Browns fans in Northern Ohio), Natalie shot a 29 on the front nine and pulled a 4 shot lead over Mi Hyun Kim. Natalie almost eagled No. 10, so, after settling for a tap in birdie, Natalie was 6-under for the day. As TV coverage started, Natalie was sitting pretty at -18. Mi Hyun was 3 back at that point, and the closest competitor to Nat. Frankly, I was already thinking of all the great things I would be saying on The Golf Blog about Natalie's first victory.
But I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Natalie shot even par for the back 9 -- she was stuck at -18, while her competitors Mi Hyun and Paula Creamer started making a late charge. Nat's speed on her putts gave her some problems on the back nine. Although she had some makeable birdie opportunities on the back, Nat seemed to be hammering her "Hammy" putter right through most of the breaks. Suddenly, Natalie had gone cold, and, at least to me, her eyes and facial expression seemed to display much more nerves on the final three holes in regulation. She played valiantly, though, saving some pressure par putts coming in.
Meanwhile, Mi Hyun birdied three straight holes to force the playoff (and could have won it on 18 but missed a makeable putt). (Paula Creamer almost made the playoff by pulling off a string of 3 straight birdies, but she also missed a makeable birdie putt on 18.) Suddenly, the momentum had shifted to Mi Hyun.
But, in the playoff, Natalie seemed to have rebounded and to be hitting the better shots. On 2 of the holes, Natalie was closer to the pin within the 10 to 15 foot range for birdie. But she could not convert with the Hammy putter. Mi Hyun drained a 20 footer to win on the third playoff hole, and Natalie's 12 footer slided by. A disappointing loss for Natalie, but she played her heart out. Her time will come.
6 Comments:
This was really a dissapointing tournament to watch, so I can just imagine how Natalie Gulbis feels. I just seemed like she had the wind knocked out of her on the 8th hole when she hit the pin, and ended-up with a 20 ft'r instead of it being stiff, then Kim birded on top of her. That was a two shot swing that she seemed to never be able to shake; didn't make a put outside 4' for 13 straight holes after that blow. Just had the feeling that Kim had to loose, that Gulbis wasn't going to win it....ever!
Kind of ironic that "I thought" this tournament was fun because of the interesting Americans on the leaderboard and a boring asian player ends-up winning....again. Sorry, but it's true. The Asians are obviously quality players, but with the exception of Se Ri Pak and Candie Kung they are tremendously boring players, and really don't offer much of a draw to the american public. If players like Gulbis, Creamer, Rankin, Pressel, Lang and Linicome continue to play well and win the future of the LPGA tour is bright. If totally uninteresting foriegn players continue to dominate the tour....
Natalie just need one more putt, but she couldn't make any after the 10th hole. She had her chances. It was so close.
Hopefully, she can rebound from this soon. It's a tough way to lose after leading the entire tournament.
A wonderful playoff. I'm not surprised that Ms. Gulbis did not win. Her unorthodox putting stance and grip lead me to believe she may some "nerves" in that arena.
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I don't think her putting style has anything to do with it. She has a quality putting stroke, and it was proven time and time again by puting the putt online. I do agree that he nerves were probably affecting her pace.
Nat did a great job and I for one was very proud of her. She is a class act on and off the course. It is just a matter of time when she wins the first one.
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