Natalie Gulbis announces essay contest

Natalie Gulbis, LPGA player and leggy calendar-girl, announced on June 24 an essay contest.

The theme of the essay is, “Who’s Behind Your Success?” and entries of 200 words or less can be submitted at the link above.

According to RSM McLadrey, the official accounting, tax, and business consulting firm of the PGA of America and the sponsor of the contest, the grand prize winner of the essay about the most influential person in their life will get to spend the day with Natalie, starting with a sweaty, steamy morning workout, followed by nine holes of bikini golf, and climaxing with a dinner.

(OK, I may have embellished that a bit, but only the words “sweaty,” “steamy,” “bikini,” and “climaxing.” Seriously, though, I think there would be more entries using my phrasing – press releases written by accounting firms are notoriously un-sexy.)

Also on the entry site is Natalie’s own essay on the theme, which is far longer than allowed for the rest of us, at a whopping 556 words.

Not surprisingly, she wrote about her father, who, by all accounts, is tremendously supportive of his daughter. I must add, however, that my one experience with John Gulbis gave me the impression that he was far from the cheery, good-natured guy she paints him to be in the essay.

At the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open, I was on a shuttle bus one morning with Mr. Gulbis, and was treated to his loud, rude complaints to the volunteer shuttle driver about the transportation at the event. He seemed especially peeved that he had to ride with the riff-raff in the media, and he let the driver know this in very colorful language, as if it were somehow the driver’s fault. The worst part is that according to everyone else—from the media to the fans to the players—the organization and transportation at that event were the best they’d ever seen at an Open.

Maybe Big John (and he is indeed a big, tattooed, ex-cop) was just having a bad morning. I’m sure he treats his little girl far better than he treated that shuttle driver (and the rest of us passengers who had to endure his griping). Natalie has always struck me as quite genial and patient with fans and media, though. So maybe he didn’t influence her so much after all, at least not with respect to how she treats others.