Depression, back injury can’t keep Begay away

Cheer up, golf fans. Even though Tiger Woods won’t show up for the AT&T; National at Congressional, there might be another outlet for any pent-up passions.

“Everybody loves an underdog,” Notah Begay III said, meaning himself.

Begay, who has not won a PGA event in eight years, is trying to make a comeback. Another comeback, actually. Everybody loves that kind of thing, too. Although, he said, “Shoot, I don’t know if it’s officially a comeback until you actually do something.”

Such candor adds to Begay’s appeal, and there is more, including a direct Tiger connection. Begay and Woods have been close friends since their days as roommates and teammates at Stanford in the mid-1990s.

But mainly, Begay is a singular figure in golf - the only full-blooded American Indian on the tour. He is half Navajo, one-quarter San Felipe and one-quarter Isleta. True to his roots, he actively helps further the financial well-being and business interests of American Indians.

Begay is unique in another way: The 35-year-old is the only pro who putts both left- and right-handed. Despite a chronically bad back and a pronounced lack of recent success, he has been a persistent competitor. He is, in a sense, the anti-Tiger.

“I think more people can identify with the way I play golf more than the way [Woods] plays golf,” he said, laughing. “There’s a lot more people that can hit like I do.”

This is Begay’s fourth PGA tournament of the year. He ranks 241st.

“I haven’t lost sight of the fact that I still have some good years left in the game, although all evidence points to the contrary in terms of the way I’ve felt over the last few years,” he said.

Like Woods, Begay chooses his words carefully. Unlike Woods, no internal censor is needed to screen them. He is good-humored and candid, if not painfully honest. In addition to his faltering career, Begay has battled depression, chronic pain and the stigma of DUI arrests several years ago that led to jail time and profound embarrassment. He doesn’t hide, spin or sugarcoat any of it.

“A lot of people want to look at athletes and how they deal with their issues,” he said. “What we should be looking at is how certain athletes recover from those situations. We should be looking more at how people respond and rebound.”

A former All-American at Stanford, Begay once shot a 59 on the Nike Tour and won four PGA events during his first two years as a pro but none since, mainly because of his back. He lately has played more on the European and Nationwide tours.

Begay describes his condition as an “eight-millimeter disc fragment that sort of protrudes into my spinal column.” He first got hurt while lifting weights just after he, Woods and the rest of the U.S. team won the 2000 Presidents Cup.

Begay, who earned a sponsor’s exemption for the AT&T;, said he feels good now, physically and otherwise. One reason is his 5-month-old daughter, Antonella. After reinjuring his back at the Italian Open last year, he hired new doctors and trainers (and a new psychologist), “and it seems to be working well,” he said.

“I rely on a little bit of [anti-inflammatory] medication daily, but it’s really opened my eyes about chronic pain and what people deal with and how they get dependent on meds and so forth,” he said. “I empathize with people who deal with chronic pain.”

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