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.”
That led to his depression, which he has fought with the help of many, including Woods. Before his playoff victory in the U.S. Open a few weeks ago, Woods talked about Begay, whose golf bag he used to carry at school.
“I’ve tried to be there as a friend,” Woods said. “I mean, he was like a big brother to me when I was on college. … I’d do anything for that guy.”
“Tiger and my family and friends have really been supportive and have sort of carried me through this,” Begay said. “I’m just trying to stay positive, and I’m always hoping there will be a chance I can play at a high level again.”
Begay said he will miss not having Woods around this week. They often went to dinner while playing in the same tournament, “spending time on what was once our interesting single lives and now they’re interesting married lives with kids,” he said.
“What a great friend. It’s not the championships we won together; it’s our friendship. We’re the same friends out here that we were 20 years ago playing junior golf.”
Begay tied for 62nd at the Travelers Championship in Hartford, Conn., two weeks ago, but at least he made the cut. He appreciates the small victories.
“I stopped pinning my hopes on winning a while ago,” he said. “Mostly because I don’t want to go through this phase of my career where I walk away in five or 10 years having not won a tournament, and I don’t want to feel like I was not a success. I think that just hanging in there and overcoming all the things I’ve had to overcome and still being competitive is a success. I sort of stay away from the win-or-lose proposition anymore.”
There are other successes. He runs the Notah Begay III Foundation, which builds athletic fields in American Indian communities. Armed with an economics degree from Stanford, he also operates NB 3 Consulting “to help tribes develop a stronger economic portfolio for their communities,” he said.
Begay, whose grandfather was a Navajo “Code Talker” during World War II, said he doesn’t consider it an obligation to help.
“It’s an opportunity,” he said. “There’s nothing written in stone that says you have to give back. But you look at the housing and lending markets. I mean, that was driven by greed, people at the corporate level that just saw a way to make money.
“I try to use my time and resources to benefit and serve others, whether it’s acting as a positive role model in my conduct and the way I approach my life or whether it’s creating programs that make a difference.”
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