NatalieGulbis's Blog

21
May
Corning Classic

Good morning from Corning, New York! This week’s event is the Corning Classic. It has been a landmark event for the LPGA for 31 years. This is the last year of the event which is very sad. I have always loved playing here in Corning for several reasons. One of the reasons is because the golf course is a classic, with dog legs left and right. There are reachable par 5’s, drivable par 4’s and longer more traditional holes. The greens are small and fast. If you are striking the ball well and managing the course, you can shoot really low. If you struggle off the tee, it’s going to be a long day!

What truly makes this event a favorite of mine and so special is the support from the fans and the community. Corning and the small towns surrounding it are incredibly supportive of the LPGA. Regardless of where you go, whether it’s a local shop or restaurant, you are welcomed with open arms and excitement from the town. The galleries are large here which also makes the event very exciting.

I have stayed in the same private housing for the past 7 years. John, the owner of the home, is not only a great host for the week of Corning, but has also become a close family friend. He comes to support me at several other LPGA events and even celebrated my dad’s 60th birthday with our family and close friends in Puerto Rico. John and I have our routines this week. We usually have breakfast together which consists of me making pancakes or smoothies. In the evenings, I grab Outback To-Go every night and we watch Yankees games, Idol, or this week, the NBA Playoffs.

It’s a special week on my tournament schedule. I am really looking forward to competing this week in the last Corning Classic. It will be a celebration and a goodbye to a golf tournament so close to LPGA fans and players.
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12
May
Golf is Good for You and for Me

You know what I love most about golf? It doesn’t discriminate against sex, age, or economic status. A grandfather can play with his grandson, a wife with her husband, father with daughter, even a pro with an amateur like I did Tuesday morning in the Pro Am at the Sybase Classic presented by ShopRite.

May 13th is the second annual National Golf Day and this is something worth celebrating, perpetuating and remembering.

Somebody recently asked me what my life would be like without golf. I didn’t even have to think about it. Life for me would seem pretty empty. Without golf I wouldn’t have traveled around the world. I’ve played in Niagara Falls and St. Andrews, Scotland where golf was born. I’ve looked in awe at Mt Fuji from a golf course, and this week enjoyed it at the New Jersey shore. Without golf I wouldn’t have the same dear friends, built the same relationships, or competed against the best in the world. I wouldn’t have been able to contribute in the same way to Special Olympics, or benefited from the many wonderful sponsors who have believed in and supported me over the years.

And I clearly wouldn’t have been on The Celebrity Apprentice!

What does golf do for you? A round of golf can burn 800 calories even if you take a cart. Each tournament brings millions of dollars to a community. The golf industry generates 2million jobs in the United States and raises $3.5billion- not million but billion dollars for charity each year- more than all the other spectator sports combined. If you love golf like I do, please consider signing this petition sponsored by The PGA of America and recognizing the contributions the sport of golf makes economically, environmentally, and socially (link to petition). Golf contributes and I only hope I can give something back to the sport that I love.
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22
Apr
Celebrity Apprentice: FIRED!

This week's task was to host a charity auction for the Ivanka Trump jewelry line. The event consisted of a runway show where models showed off the jewelry during a live auction. The team to raise the most money would be declared winner.

Unfortunately, we did not raise the most money, and we lost. Mr. Trump and Ivanka thought that one of the main reasons we lost was because the selected jewelry was not visible enough from the runway. And because I was in charge of picking the jewelry, I was the one to go. I found that choosing the jewelry was extremely difficult because all of Ivanka's jewelry designs are stunning.

Our strategy was to put all of our money behind the least expensive piece of jewelry to make the greatest profit. We knew we would have to raise at least $100k in just one day in order to have a chance against Annie Duke. I must say that Annie is an amazing fundraiser! That said, the jewelry was insignificant because we were putting all of our money on one item.

Another fun moment was my attempt to get a rival poker player of Annie's to fundraise for me, rather than for Annie. It was all in good fun. I almost had it pulled off with Phil Hellmuth, until Annie caught word. She was infuriated!! She was yelling in the room next to us and I knew she was would be coming my way shortly. Her reaction was exactly what I had hoped, and she was extremely upset.

While in the board room that night, I was sure that Clint Black would be fired. I thought he should have been fired last week, and I thought that this week was possibly his time. I also thought it might be Joan, because she was the project manager, and we did lose the task by $150k. In the end, even though I was the second leading fundraiser on our team, I ended up being fired. I did, however, feel that it was the nicest way I could have been fired.

As I mentioned in the episode, it is really challenging for me to fundraise. I had great support from sponsors and friends throughout the show. My favorite part of this episode was seeing how much money 8 people could raise in a single auction. It was pretty incredible that overall, there was more than $350k raised in one night! Amazing! One of the things I love most about this show is that with each task, everyone worked to raise money for charity.

So don't stop watching the show. There are only a few episodes left and there's a good chance I
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16
Apr
My first go as Project Manager

After a wild episode last week and watching 2 contestants get fired, although they didn't fail on the task, who knew what was in store for this week's episode!

This week's task was to come up with a point-of-sale display and marketing campaign for Life Lock. Life Lock is a company that deals with identity theft, one of the nation's fastest growing crimes. We had less than a day to create an in-store display, prepare a presentation and present our campaign to the Life Lock executives. I stepped up to be project manager of team KOTU. Unfortunately we were not able to change the name!

I was excited to be the project manager in hopes of keeping my team away from the boardroom and securing a win. I was also looking forward to having the opportunity to win money for my charity, The Boys & Girls Clubs of America. I felt that my biggest challenge would be to repair the relationship between Clint and Joan. We were off and running and the team was getting along beautifully. I decided to separate the group because I was still nervous about the volatile relationship of Clint and Joan. I sent Herschel and Clint to create the display, while Joan and I worked on the presentation, imaging for display, and the take aways.

This was a really challenging task because we had to make an intangible service (the service of Life Lock's protection) into a tangible display that people could then buy off the shelf. I was really excited about our product, idea, and give aways. With very few set backs, we presented a great presentation to the Life Lock executives. We were judged on brand, messaging, originality and presentation. I know from my partnership with RSM McGladrey how important these things are, so I felt up to the challenge. Of course, we didn't know the results until we went to the boardroom.

We won! Phew! I was thrilled to win $20,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. I was also excited that the team was working well together again!

It was sad to watch Brian McKnight get fired. I really enjoyed getting to know him throughout the show and am a huge fan of his music.

The end of the show brought a twist that no one expected! Exhausted at 11pm, we were pulled back into the boardroom for the next task. We knew we were going to have to pull an all-nighter, as if we weren't tired enough. Here we go again!

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9 Comments
09
Apr
Celebrity Apprentice: Week Six

What a wild episode!!! The task was to create a 60 second video for All detergent. The episode started with Donald Trump switching up the teams. I was moved from Team Athena, where we enjoyed much success, to Team KOTU (the boys' team), which stands for Kings of the Universe. What a ridiculous name! Although I wasn't thrilled to be moved to a new team, we had work to do.

Our project manager was Clint Black. I really enjoyed my time with Clint. He would break out his acoustic guitar and play old rock-and-roll hits, or whatever we requested (he's also an avid golfer, by the way, which meant he and I had a lot in common). As a project manager, however, he was a nightmare. He shot, starred, edited and produced the "Untitled" video that our team presented to the All executives. It was a mess! I was surprised that the All executives disliked Team Athena's video, which I thought was very funny, especially Jesse James. In the end, both teams wound up losing, and one member from each team was set to be fired. I have learned from my experience with Team McGladrey, that with the right team, anything is possible. For this particular task, however, we apparently didn't have the "right team."

Tboz was up first for the firing squad. She was fired due to volunteering. Team KOTU was next, and Clint Black decided to bring Khloe and me back to the board room. I was really mad that he didn’t choose to bring Joan back, as those two were at each other the entire task. Clint even said at one point that he thought he was going home, and that he was tired of fighting with Joan. Well, it turned out that Clint didn't get fired, although in my opinion, he was clearly at fault and deserved to go. In the end, Donald spared him and fired Khloe. I thought that wasn't the best decision, because he fired her for something she had done that didn't relate at all to her performance on the show. Clint Black was project manager for the task, therefore, he should have been held accountable for the team's performance. I know it's reality TV, which can be unpredictable and unfair, but Khloe wasn't the reason Team KOTU lost the task.

You can now be sure that in the episodes going forward, there are no rules, and anything can happen!

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