ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 2, 1997 TAG: 9704020060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LINCOLN, CALIF.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
California teen-ager is delaying her high school final exams to play in the Long Drugs Challenge.
Natalie Gulbis, 14, won't be able to take her high school finals this week - she's playing in an LPGA tournament.
LPGA deputy commissioner Jim Webb said Gulbis is the youngest player ever to qualify for a women's pro golf event.
Gulbis, a freshman at Granite Bay High School in Citrus Heights, Calif., will be competing in the Longs Drugs Challenge. She shot a 6-over-par 78 to gain one of the two qualifying spots Monday
``I thought I would have to shoot 74 or 75, so I'm surprised,'' Gublis said. ``I'm just trying not to get too nervous.''
Gulbis, a former gymnast who began playing golf at age 4, is the No.1 player on her high school boys' team. Last summer, she shot her best round, a 3-under-par 67 on a course in West Sacramento.
``I played OK until the final few holes,'' said Gulbis of her qualifying round. ``But I had a couple of bogeys and a double bogey, and that wasn't so good.''
Gulbis finished second in the 1996 California State Amateur tournament. She also advanced to the 1995 California State Amateur match-play round but was disqualified when two of her playing partners from a previous round said she signed an incorrect scorecard.
Gulbis, 5-foot-6, has a particularly good short game and is a skilled driver. She hit her tee shot on the seventh hole of her qualifying round 250 yards.
Gulbis was one of only six players who attempted to qualify for the 144-player field that includes defending champion Kelly Robbins and two-time women's U.S. Open champion Annika Sorrenstam.
She will begin play in the 72-hole, $500,000 event Thursday.
Gulbis also has made arrangements to begin taking her finals next week in geometry, biology and typing.
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