Natalie Gulbis gets a paint job in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

She may not be Golf Digest’s hottest golfer (Sandra Gal took that title) but the LPGA Tour’s photogenic Natalie Gulbis is generating lots of heat with her body-painted debut in the upcoming Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

The 10-year tour golfer is no stranger to the camera lens but her inaugural appearance in what to the naked eye seems to be an itsy-bitsy teenie-weenie green and white polka dot bikini goes beyond her previous pin-up turns in FHM and other magazines. The swimsuit that hugs Gulbis' curves is actually body paint -- an idea SI senior editor M.J. Day cooked up, Gulbis told Golf.com's Jeff Ritter.

The 29-year-old winner of the 2007 Evian Masters revealed to Ritter that it had been her dream to show her stuff in the swimsuit edition and that she was more anxious about posing nearly nude than trying to sink a short putt for a tour victory.

Natalie Gulbis struts her stuff in Sports Illustrated's upcoming swimsuit issue (Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

"The most pressure was when they were taking pictures," Gulbis told Ritter with a laugh. "I was so nervous. You’re up there, and they’re playing club music and everyone is having fun and dancing around. They might forget that you’re naked, but you don’t forget that you’re naked. And everybody’s watching you."

Gulbis will bare almost all in the swimsuit issue due out next week.