GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — After Natalie Gulbis finished her rounds Friday and Saturday at the ShopRite LPGA Classic, dozens of fans lined up near the green to interact with her. As Gulbis walked off the course, she signed autographs, posed for photos and engaged in small talk with anyone who approached.

“Can we get a picture with my daughter?” one woman asked Saturday.

“Yeah, of course,” Gulbis said.

Despite her 441st placement in the women’s world golf rankings, Gulbis remains among the sport’s most popular and affable players. This was her seventh consecutive appearance at this event, although she was hoping she would not be here this year. Gulbis and her husband, Josh Rodarmel, are eager to start a family.

“I’ve been trying to have a baby,” Gulbis said. “I’ve gone through a whole bunch of different ways to try to have children.”

For now, Gulbis, 33, is still on the LPGA Tour, albeit on a reduced schedule. She returned to competition in April after a nearly seven-month absence. So far this year, she has missed the cut in each of her five tournaments. She shot a one-over-par 143 this weekend and failed to make the cut for the fifth consecutive year in this three-round tournament.

Gulbis said she did not know how much longer she would compete. If she becomes pregnant and has a child, she may decide to retire.

“I think I want to stay home, but I love golf, so I want to stay around golf,” she said. “If I have the opportunity to do something in golf, it’s part of me. Golf’s in my blood. I’ll be around here doing something, I’m sure.”

Gulbis has juggled the demands of playing and pursuing off-course activities since she turned professional in 2001 after her freshman year at the University of Arizona. She was once among the sport’s most promising prospects. She competed on the U.S. Solheim Cup teams in 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Still, even back then, she had higher ambitions than simply winning. She served as a paid endorser and spokeswoman for several brands. She also appeared in her own reality show on Golf Channel and in the second season of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” which was hosted by Donald Trump.

Last week, Gulbis wrote an article for Golf.com about her experiences with Trump and their shared passion for golf and business. She wrote that she last saw him at last year’s British Women’s Open, where they discussed Turnberry, the site of the tournament and the course that Trump owns. Trump also asked Gulbis about Lydia Ko, 19, the top-ranked women’s player.

“As usual, he wanted to know more about winners,” Gulbis wrote. “That never-ending desire to learn more about and from the best in any field, that’s the Donald Trump I know.”

Gulbis, whose only LPGA Tour victory came in 2007, has battled numerous injuries and ailments the past few years. She has had three back operations and contracted malaria in early 2013. Later that year, she finished tied for ninth at the British Women’s Open, her last top-10 finish. Since the start of the 2014 season, she has missed the cut or withdrawn in 19 of 31 tournaments.

“If you do anything in 15 years and you live a public life, it’s going to get documented,” Gulbis said. “It just happens. Athletes get sick and they get injured, and we travel all over the world. The fact that I would catch something is no surprise. But I feel great now, knock on wood.”

During Friday’s opening round, she showed some promise with five birdies en route to a two-under-par 69, which was five shots off the lead. It was her first below-par round since last July, a span of eight tournaments.

The next day, Gulbis teed off on the 10th hole and made birdie before carding three bogeys and a triple bogey on her front nine. She then had two birdies for a two-under 35 on her back nine, but she still missed the cut by two strokes.

The crowds following Gulbis this weekend saw a player who looks familiar but deals with unseen pain because of her past injuries. She said she typically arrives at the course two hours before her tee time and does warmup exercises for her back for an hour.

And yet, she’s still out there with the same caddy (Greg Sheridan) she has had for 12 years and the same coach (Butch Harmon) she has had for 15. On the side, she makes sponsor appearances, raises money for charities and hosts a television show with Jimmy Hanlin on Fox Sports regional networks.

For now, though, those are just part-time projects. She remains a golfer who is not sure how much longer she will be on tour.

“I feel like, in 2010, I started counting down years,” Gulbis said. “I got told that I should retire in 2010 because of my back. I don’t know. I try not to plan it because you just don’t know. I don’t know. If I’m fortunate enough to be able to play, I love playing. And if I’m pregnant, I probably won’t be playing.”