Notah Begay III

Notah Begay III
Personal information
Born	September 14, 1972 (1972-09-14) (age 39) Albuquerque, New Mexico
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg; 13.9 st)
Nationality	United States
Career
College	Stanford University
Turned professional	1995
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour
Former tour(s)	Nationwide Tour European Tour
Professional wins	6
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	4
Other	2
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	T37: 2000
U.S. Open	22nd: 2000
The Open Championship	T20: 2000
PGA Championship	8th: 2000

Notah Ryan Begay III (born September 14, 1972) is an American professional golfer. He is the only full-blooded American Indian (Navajo/Pueblo^[1]) golfer on the PGA Tour.^[2] He is currently an analyst with the Golf Channel.

Amateur career

Begay was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and graduated from a private high school, the Albuquerque Academy. He attended Stanford University where he was a three-time All-American and a teammate of Tiger Woods. He was a member of Stanford's 1994 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship team. After graduation, Begay turned professional in 1995.

Professional career

Nike Tour

In 1998, Begay shot a 59 in the second round of the Nike Tour Dominion Open, to join the handful of golfers to ever shoot a 59 in a professional tournament. He placed tenth on the Nike Tour money list that year, earning a place on the PGA Tour for 1999.

PGA Tour

Begay had a pair of wins in each of his first two seasons on the Tour. From late September 1999 to early July 2000, a period of just over nine months, Begay recorded four Tour wins, with the third and fourth wins coming in successive weeks. Since then, he has been plagued by back trouble which has put his future as a professional golfer in doubt. In 2005, he played under a "Major Medical Exemption" with little success. In 2006, he played on the Nationwide Tour. At the end of 2006, he successfully earned a card for the European Tour from their qualifying school. In December 2008, he regained his playing card for the 2009 PGA Tour season at Q-school.

Begay has been featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings. He successfully utilized a unique putting method. Using a putter with playing faces on both the front and back of the head, he putted right-to-left-breaking putts right-handed, and left-to-right-breaking putts left-handed. Begay is the first top player to use such a technique and putter.

Impaired driving counts

In January 2000, Begay was arrested for what, he admitted in court, was actually his second DUI incident. In this second incident, he drove into a parked car while leaving a bar in Albuquerque and was subsequently arrested. Begay was sentenced to 364 days in jail, with all but seven days suspended.^[3][4]

Notah Begay III Foundation

In 2005, Notah established the non-profit Notah Begay III Foundation. The immediate goal of the foundation was to provide health and wellness education to Native American youth in the form of soccer and golf programs. The broader purpose of the foundation was to stand as a catalyst for change in the Native American community. On August 26, 2008 the foundation hosted the first Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, a skins golf match to raise money for the foundation. The five players for the tournament were Begay, Stewart Cink, Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas and Mike Weir. On August 24, 2009 the foundation hosted its second annual Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino.

Amateur wins (1)

this list may be incomplete

• 1995 Northeast Amateur

Professional wins (6)

PGA Tour wins (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Sep 29, 1999	Reno-Tahoe Open	-14 (70-69-63-72=274)	3 strokes	Chris Perry, David Toms
2	Oct 8, 1999	Michelob Championship at Kingsmill	-10 (67-70-69-68=274)	Playoff	Tom Byrum
3	Jun 25, 2000	FedEx St. Jude Classic	-13 (66-69-67-69=271)	1 stroke	Chris DiMarco, Bob May
4	Jul 2, 2000	Canon Greater Hartford Open	-20 (64-65-67-64=260)	1 stroke	Mark Calcavecchia

PGA Tour playoff record (1-0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1999	Michelob Championship at Kingsmill	Tom Byrum	Won with par on second extra hole

Other wins (2)

• 1998 New Mexico Open
• 2000 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Rocco Mediate and Phil Mickelson)

Results in major championships

Tournament	1999	2000	2001
The Masters	DNP	T37	CUT
U.S. Open	CUT	22	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	T20	DNP
PGA Championship	DNP	8	CUT

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

• Tournaments played: 8
• Wins: 0
• Top 10s: 1
• Top 25s: 3
• Missed cuts: 4
• Most consecutive cuts made: 4

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

• Walker Cup: 1995

Professional

• Presidents Cup: 2000 (winners)

See also

• 2008 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates

References

1. ^ PGA Tour Media Guide profile
2. ^ Notah Begay III biography
3. ^ Begay Sentenced For Driving Drunk
4. ^ Begay Begins Serving Sentence

External links

• Official website
• Notah Begay III at the PGA Tour official site
• Notah Begay III at the European Tour official site
• Interview with The Times (UK)
• Notah Begay III Challenge

Persondata
Name	Begay, Notah
Alternative names
Short description	Professional golfer
Date of birth	September 14, 1972
Place of birth	Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date of death
Place of death