With the monkey still on her back and old head cover still on her club. One thing I’ve always liked about Natalie Gulbis is her positive attitude.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: Natalie, you did great, you fought. Can you just go into your round?
NATALIE GULBIS: Usually coming into Sunday, we are kind of on the range and we were talking about shooting 4- and 5-under, and I thought for sure 5- or 6-under would do it, and I got off to a good start and shot 6-under and found myself in the playoff. The playoff, I had three chances for birdies. I hit some pretty decent putts. Some of them, for whatever reason, it was a bad read and I hit a little bit too hard, and that was about it.
Q. Was anything happening on the back nine than on the front?
NATALIE GULBIS: Making putts more than anything. I was dropping putts on the front nine, and I’m not sure you saw it on TV, but I had chance after chance until probably 16, and 17 I didn’t have a chance, but almost the whole back nine, I felt like I had chances, and I lucked out three or four putts, and I gave myself plenty of opportunities to continue to make birdies.
Q. Did you ever wonder if it’s going — I mean, I’m sure you are confident it’s going to happen, but you are awfully close and had a chance.
NATALIE GULBIS: All you can do is keep giving yourself chances. Butch (Harmon) and I always talk about giving yourself a chance to win with nine holes to play, and the same thing with my father. You want to have a chance, and this is what you learn from, and this is where you want to be. You want to have that putt for 10 or 12 feet to make it.
Q. Did you think with the three- or four-shot lead at some point you start to maybe look ahead, or no?
NATALIE GULBIS: No. I just try to stay in the present because everybody was playing well. After I was 4- or 5-under, Paula was in front of me, she was making birdies, and I played with her yesterday and she was hitting the ball well. Kim has one of the best short games on Tour. I knew she was beginning to make birdies, so I was trying to get to 20. I thought maybe 20 would do it. I didn’t quite get there.
Q. Are you surprised that you went — I think you got five in a row, and then you went like the next 14 holes and just couldn’t find another birdie.
NATALIE GULBIS: No, I actually got five in a row, and I birdied 10. Then I didn’t birdie anything else on the back nine. Like I said, I had chances, so it’s not like I didn’t have any chances throughout the whole day.
Q. How much scoreboard watching did you do? Do you watch the scoreboard all the time?
NATALIE GULBIS: Absolutely. That’s what makes it fun. You want to know where you are at, and for me personally, it helps me stay aggressive. If everybody else is making birdies, I want to make birdies too, and I don’t want to be hitting the center on the greens.
Q. I know you were playing with Kim, but were you maybe watching to see how Paula was doing, because she had four in a row there?
NATALIE GULBIS: No, I didn’t know that, but I just looked at the board, and you can hear cheering where people are making birdies, and then when it’s time to hit my shots, I was trying to make birdies, too.
Q. Does this more or less second the opinion that you can win on Tour, the mere fact that you were hanging with her, and not only that, but she had to make several shots to stay even with you?
NATALIE GULBIS: I always thought I could win on Tour. When I came out here five years ago, I thought I could win my first event. This has actually been one of the few events where I’ve led going into Sunday, and I’ve actually put together four really good rounds; four under par rounds and four rounds in the 60s. I had three good rounds, and I had rounds were I played well, but it’s very positive because I played well straight through.
Q. Natalie, how difficult is it for you? You are still smiling.
NATALIE GULBIS: It sucks. It’s not good. It’s very difficult.
Q. But you are still smiling. Are you satisfied with your round?
NATALIE GULBIS: I’m always smiling, but it’s very upsetting.
MR. GULBIS: What do you think about our dad getting a haircut if you would have won?
NATALIE GULBIS: I think your hair looks good long. I don’t want you to change. That’s just your look. I would have liked to have retired my head cover, though. I’m a little bit bummed.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about being in the zone, and it just seemed like every shot was covering flags for almost the whole day. Was your iron play as good as maybe it’s ever been?
NATALIE GULBIS: That’s probably the strength of my game, is definitely my iron play, and this week I drove the ball well, too. I was in the fairways, which allowed me to fire at a lot of pins, as well as iron play, and I just kept firing at pins, and this golf course is definitely pin honey out here, especially as soft as the greens were.
Q. What’s next for you? How do you keep your head up after being so close?
NATALIE GULBIS: Well, it’s not like I finished last. I had a pretty good week. It’s definitely a lot of positive stuff from here, and I’ll go back home and work on my game, and there are three big events coming up overseas, but this was a big week for me because I really wanted to qualify for the ADT (Championship), and I was kind of on the bubble, and I needed a top-5 finish to qualify for the ADT.
Tweet