Professional golfer Natalie Gulbis spoke in support of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the party’s National Convention on Tuesday night, opening her remarks by saying she appreciated the opportunity to speak about a “gracious, inspiring” man she “greatly admires.”
Gulbis said that when she first earned her LPGA tour card 16 years ago, she was told the only things not to be discussed in public are faith and politics.
“Well tonight, I’m prepared to violate both of those admonitions as I stand before you at the Republican National Convention as a Christian woman,” Gulbis said.
“I believe that God’s timing is perfect, and he puts people in our lives to help make a positive impact on those around us, and to help us achieve our goals,” the 33-year-old golfer continued. “One of those people, for me, is Donald Trump.”
“The first time I played golf with him, in 2005, I shared two things I told countless CEOs, politicians and billionaires before him,” Gulbis went on. “One, I had a dream to open up my own boys and girls club. And two, I was deeply frustrated about being treated differently as a woman, overlooked and underpaid in business. These words previously fell on deaf, albeit well-intentioned ears, but that day was different — they finally fell on ears that cared enough to take action.”
“I’m proud to tell you that, with Donald’s help, I opened up the Natalie Gulbis Boys and Girls Club,” she beamed. “And in response to my frustrations about being treated unfairly as a woman, he adamantly rejected the notion and instead offered me a simple idea that changed my life forever: never fear challenging the status quo.”
Gulbis added that Trump encouraged her not to think of herself as a “female athlete,” but instead, as a “business person,” and to be “fearless” in anything she chose to do.
“Ronald Reagan said, ‘Status quo is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in,'” Gulbis said. “And while I believe that this is the greatest time to be a woman in the greatest country in the history of the world, I have no delusions that there isn’t a mess to clean up. And we desperately need someone to clean up that mess.”
“That person is Donald Trump,” she concluded.
Watch video of Gulbis’s full RNC speech above.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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