Win shows Gulbis not just another pretty face

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Google images don’t lie. Type the name of a celebrity into the search engine, and the first pictures you see usually reflect how most fans view that person.

Tom Hanks the actor gets you shots of his movie career.

Regina Carter the jazz violinist gets you shots of her performing.

Natalie Gulbis the golfer gets you shots of her wearing different bikinis.

Not that anything is wrong with that.

The beauty of a female athlete should be admired like her individual skill. Regarding the two as mutually exclusive is wrong. But once Gulbis won her first LPGA event last weekend since turning pro in 2002, those Anna Kournikova comparisons immediately were erased from her resume, which no longer paints the Henderson-based Gulbis as one whose looks can stop traffic but whose game never was good enough to stand within a winner’s circle.

It was a predictable link between two attractive athletes. And a gigantic stretch given their respective journeys.

The jealousy many sports fans held for Kournikova was more about our innate sense of low self-esteem than any proven notion the former tennis player cared more about banking millions of dollars off her sex appeal than winning even one singles title.

Truth is, her window of extraordinary talent closed quickly, mostly because of constant back injuries.

She made the Wimbledon semifinals at 16, climbed as high as No. 8 in the world, won a few Grand Slam doubles championships and yet advanced to only four finals in 130 singles tournaments, the latter being sufficient ammunition for those envious sorts who found comfort in the Russian’s on-court failures at the same time she began a profitable modeling career.

Gulbis too drips with marketing savvy. There is the television reality show. The sexy calendar. The mounds of endorsements created around her blonde hair and engaging personality and bikini shots.

But there is also this: When she beat Jeong Jang in a playoff Sunday to win the Evian Masters (the most prestigious women’s tournament this side of a major), Gulbis reached a stage her career record suggested was more destined than possible.

That she did so after having to change her swing because of a bad back moves her even further away from any athletic connection with Kournikova, whose downfall in sports was that she peaked early and couldn’t overcome all those spine ailments.

She was essentially done at 22, having traded in her competitive singles career for the occasional team tennis doubles match and her next pouty expression in front of thousands of paparazzi cameras.

The difference with Gulbis: She is 24 and just getting started as one of her sport’s best.

"I never actually met Anna, but the comparisons didn’t bother me at all," Gulbis said Wednesday from Scotland, where the Women’s British Open will be contested this week at St. Andrews. "She’s very attractive and brought a lot of (publicity) to her sport. Coming up, she was one of the best juniors in the world.

"But I have always known the most important thing to me is winning tournaments. I wouldn’t spend the time competing on tour every week and putting in the hours of practice and working on my game if (winning) wasn’t the ultimate goal.

"You know, I didn’t feel at all different last week than I have with some of my top-five finishes. It was just my time. I’ve been in the hunt for a while at different tournaments, but someone would outplay me. This time, I was the one with the lowest score."

You could see it coming faster than Lindsay Lohan’s next relapse.

Gulbis and Lorena Ochoa were the only players to finish among the top 20 in all four majors last year. Gulbis had five top 10s in 2006 and the year before set a then-LPGA season record for earning the most money (just over $1 million) without a victory. She has been a few accurate drives and more consistent putts away from hugging a trophy as she did in France on Sunday.

The mainstream sports marketplace continues to be jam-packed with entertainment options for the average fan’s attention. For years, many have wondered if sex appeal isn’t the optimum way to promote women’s sports. Before there was a Natalie Gulbis in golf, there was Jan Stevenson and Laura Baugh.

And while skimpy outfits never have been proven to directly influence tournament purses or sponsorship awareness, the concept certainly has helped women’s golf establish its place in that crowded marketplace.

Gulbis is a big reason for that, much the way Kournikova once was in tennis. It’s where all comparisons should end.

Ed Graney’s column is published Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.