LPGA Tour Notebook: Gulbis launches her own MasterCard
 
Feb. 22, 2007

Natalie Gulbis has signed a marketing agreement with Payment Data Systems, Inc., under which the company will offer the Natalie Gulbis Gift MasterCard, company officials have announced. The Natalie Gulbis Gift MasterCard will be issued by MetaBank and marketed and administered by Payment Data Systems Inc.

The cards will be accepted everywhere Debit MasterCard is accepted, and will include special offers exclusive to cardholders. Customers will be able to choose from a series of card designs featuring Gulbis.

Gulbis, 23, has yet to win on the LPGA Tour, but has recorded 16 top-10 finishes, including three top-5 finishes in 2006. She is in the top five of Advertising Age's most marketable young athletes, has started the second season of her Golf Channel reality television show, recently released her second swimsuit calendar, and is a featured character in a Tiger Woods video game.

ON WISCONSIN: Reigning Weetabix Women's British Open champion Sherri Steinhauer is working with the Wisconsin Department of Tourism to promote the state's Golf Wisconsin program.

Steinhauer, a Wisconsin native, will be featured in promotional efforts to raise awareness of the Golf Wisconsin license plate, and proceeds will fund statewide junior golf programs. Golf Wisconsin was developed in 2004 to introduce a new generation of players to the game through free clinics and rounds of golf, while promoting the state's golf courses.

SPONSOR SIGNINGS: Jeong Jang and Cristie Kerr recently signed on with new sponsors. Kerr, the highest-ranked American on the LPGA Tour with nine-career victories, has joined the United Sports Technologies (UST) Staff and is using UST golf shafts in 2007. Jang, who won the 2006 Wegmans LPGA and was among an LPGA Tour-record 11 players to earn more than $1 million last season, will don the Trigelle line of clothing as her official apparel sponsor.

Also, three LPGA Tour rookies recently teamed up with new sponsors for the 2007 season. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke and Kristy McPherson will represent PeakVision Sports, while Song Hee Kim has signed a contract with FILA Korea that is said to be the largest endorsement contract for a Korean rookie since Se Ri Pak signed with CJ in 1998. Kim, the Duramed Futures Tour 2006 Rookie of the Year, will wear FILA apparel and appear in advertisements for the duration of the two-year contract.

DOWN THE HALL: Former LPGA Tour player Lisa Kiggens D'Amore was inducted into the Bob Elias Kern County Hall of Fame on Feb. 15 in Bakersfield, Calif. D'Amore played on the LPGA Tour as Lisa Kiggens from 1992 to 2003, recording one victory, 11 top-10 finishes and more than $750,000.

She retired after the 2003 season and spent three years as a commentator on The Golf Channel. Other athletes who were inducted with her are wrestler Larry Morgan, ex-Harlem Globetrotter Reggie Phillips and former NFL player Tracy Rogers.

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