By Dave Shedloski

Cherry Hills Village, Colo. – She was on the practice tee showing off some beautiful curves, and it’s what Natalie Gulbis wanted to put on display. Her compact golf swing immaculately grooved, Gulbis sent a succession of tee shots down the driving range with the prettiest little draw, each finishing on the same line as the one before it.

"I’ve been working on this for a year or two, but it’s only now I’m totally committed to it," said Gulbis, golf’s calendar girl, as she wrapped up a brief warm-down session late Thursday afternoon at Cherry Hills Country Club. Gulbis had just completed a 1-under-par 70 in the opening round of the 60^th U.S. Women’s Open when she hurried to the range to ensure she wouldn’t lose the feeling of a swing she hopes carries her beyond pin-up fame.

Natalie Gulbis and her caddie line up her approach shot on the ninth hole Thursday. (Jessica Foster/USGA)

Not that she objects to the attention she gets for being a leggy 22-year-old that one male magazine lists among its 100 sexiest women in the world, which is the kind of pop culture notoriety that is at once trite but serves as a great marketing tool for, say, a swimsuit calendar – which Gulbis poses for annually and for which she is well compensated – or a reality TV show.

Yet you can only get so far on looks. OK, so tennis player Anna Kournikova has gotten incredibly far on looks. Gulbis is intent on going farther, by achieving success in her chosen pursuit.

For instance, her homemade golf swing, in which the club and her right shoulder seemed to go past parallel, has been reined in with the help of Butch Harmon. It’s better for her back, but it’s especially helpful to her golf swing.

"I did it for golf. I can be a lot more effective and accurate with a three-quarter swing," Gulbis, of Lake Las Vegas, said.

That she proved Thursday at Cherry Hills, where she hit 11 of 14 fairways and finished the weather suspended first round tied for fourth, just one behind leaders Angela Stanford and amateur Brittany Lang.

Despite splendid ball-striking, Gulbis endured an uneven scoring day that she said is typical of many of her rounds this year. Though she only had 26 official putts, she used her flat stick a few more times from off the fringe with less than desired effect.

"It was not like I was all over the golf course," she said. "I had a couple of three-putts and missed a couple of irons, a couple of up-and-downs."

She shrugged. "I’m hitting a lot of fairways and greens. I don’t think you can go wrong anywhere doing that," she added.

Gulbis hasn’t done many things wrong this year, and the results verify that. She’s made the cut in each of her 13 starts this year with three top-five finishes and 10 top-25s. Her 71.38 scoring average is sixth-best on the LPGA Tour and has brought her $397,190, which ranks eighth. Her 70 Thursday was her 27^th under par this year, one more than Annika Sorenstam.

Pointing out that she has yet to win as a professional is meaningful only if you ignore the fact that she is in just her fourth full season. Gulbis is a work in progress, but, unlike most players, she is willing to allow her fans to watch the process.

Her reality series, "Natalie," which begins airing in July on The Golf Channel, is a combination of entertainment, shrewd marketing and pre-emptive counterpoint. This week’s Open is the vehicle for the sixth and final episode of the series. She’ll take fans behind the scenes at her pre-championship pizza party and to the Colorado Rockies game she plans to attend Friday night.

But along the way she can also exhibit her growth as a player and her commitment to improving her game. Sure, footage of her photo shoot for her 2006 swimsuit calendar also will be included on the show, but the series could be all the more meaningful if, at the end of episode six she’s holding, say, a U.S. Open trophy.

"Yeah, that would be kind of a nice ending," she agreed, her pretty face a study in concentration, obviously still locked onto the thought of being more than a pretty face.

Dave Shedloski is a free-lance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.uswomensopen.com.