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Learning new custom Winning is the latest PGA Tour ritual for Begay
Posted: Thursday October 14, 1999 06:33 PM
VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) - Notah Begay III used to put two dabs of ceremonial red clay on his cheeks before a tough golf match -- a tribal custom before an "extremely challenging journey." Begay gave up the ritual a few years ago. The only American Indian playing on the PGA Tour has shown he can win without what his opponents used to call "war paint." He has two victories in the last two months, including one Sunday in a playoff in the Michelob Championship in Williamsburg, Va., in his first season on the tour. "That custom is a bit of a distraction now," said Begay, who has drawn more curious fans than 19-year-old Spaniard Sergio Garcia as they prepare to start Thursday in the 12-man World Match Play championship at Wentworth. "But I still see every single round of golf ... as a long journey," he added. "You never know where you're going to go and you don't know how hard it's going to be." Begay is the only full-blooded American Indian to win a PGA Tour event. He lived for seven years on a reservation south of Albuquerque, N.M., and was Tiger Woods' teammate four years ago at Stanford. He putts both left- and right-handed, depending on the break, and has an unorthodox, self-made swing. "I don't see myself in the class of a lot of players who are here," said Begay, who was picked two months ago by Mark McCormack, whose International Management Group runs this event. "(McCormack) said he wanted to give some up-and-coming American players some exposure," Begay explained. "Maybe I deserve to be here, a least a little bit." Begay, who faces two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal in the 36-hole first round, is in a 12-man field that includes defending champion Mark O'Meara, two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els, three-time majors winner Nick Price and top European player Colin Montgomerie. In other first-round matches it will be Craig Parry versus Paul Lawrie, Garcia against Retief Goosen, and Carlos Franco facing Padraig Harrington. "I don't think I lack confidence, but if you pulled out everybody's resume, mine would be the shortest. That's just a fact." Begay took up golf while tagging along with his father -- Notah Begay Jr. -- when he started as a middle-age golfer in a local league. "He gave me a golf club to stay out of the way and I liked it," he said. "They didn't know how to play, they didn't know the rules. They didn't know the strategy. They were just out there because that was what they were supposed to be doing at that age." At 8, he began working at a local course for free in exchange for a bucket of balls and no greens fees, and eventually began to hone his game at a prep school. At Stanford, he played with Woods and Casey Martin and still stays in touch with both. In fact, at Stanford he played No. 1 ahead of Woods. "He got a little better, a little faster," Begay said. "I haven't necessarily had it any more difficult than anyone else," Begay, whose first name means 'almost there' in Navajo, said he's experienced few racial taunts and hasn't heard any around the golf course. "I haven't had any problems being turned away from a particular club," he said. "Some places, they think I'm a caddie."
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