A little confidence goes a long way for Begay - Friday, June 30, 2006

After failing to make the cut in four PGA TOUR starts this year and earning less than $20,000 in eight Nationwide Tour appearances, Notah Begay III suddenly found himself in a title chase Friday in the Buick Championship.

It elicited memories of 2000, when Begay seemed to have his life and golf game in perfect order. As a 22-foot birdie putt disappeared on the final hole of the then Canon Greater Hartford Open, Begay danced off the TPC River Highlands' 18th green with a one-stroke victory over Mark Calcavecchia, his fourth win in less than 12 months.

Begay's 20-under-par 260 total remains the record since the tournament moved from Wethersfield Country Club in 1984. And the victory came a week after Begay won the now FedEx St. Jude Classic. The only other player to win back-to-back that year was Tiger Woods, his former Stanford teammate.

A year after being named TOUR Rookie of the Year, Begay finished 2000 ranked 20th on the money list with $1,819,323. But in the offseason, he admitted being over-exuberant in his workouts, sustaining a torn disc in his back that affects him to this day. His pain reached its apex 13 months ago when a major sciatic problem developed and prevented him from walking more than three or four steps without having to take a break.

"I'm 33 years old, but I feel like I'm a 50-year-old working in the factory lifting heavy things all day," Begay said. "It's been an uphill battle the last six years. I never thought I'd be hurting this long, but it's been a series of different challenges along the way."

Begay couldn't defend in the GHO in 2001, when he made only four of 12 cuts and finished 197th in earnings. He was 108th, 119th and 129th on the money list in 2002-04, then took a major medical exemption in 2005 but finished 236th and failed to regain his card in qualifying school last fall.

Begay has played only 27 PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour events the last two years, missing 15 cuts and earning about $55,000. This year, he has exempt status on the Nationwide Tour but needs sponsor's exemptions to play in TOUR events, as he got this week from the Greater Hartford Jaycees.

"You just can't get good when you play one or two weeks and then have to take a couple of weeks off," Begay said. "But you just have to keep working at it."

Begay said tightness and a lack of range of motion are his major problems.

"I've seen some many different specialists, everything short of hiring a psychic or a witch doctor," he said. "And they might be on my speed dial soon."

Begay said the hardest part of his ordeal has been "the mental pitfalls," but on Friday, he was only thinking of past glory in Connecticut as he had a bogey-free, 4-under 66 for a 36-hole total of 6-under 138.

"I've had a lot of very painful years as far as just waking up in pain every day," Begay said. "So I'm kind of forced to go to those memory banks, and literally every hole I'm walking out here I'm trying to remember where did I hit it in 2000 and how did it make me feel and I got out of trouble here and out of trouble there. It's allowed me to stay calm because I have a lot of nervous energy."

Despite good vibes, Begay nearly hit his first drive out of bounds.

"So much for positive thinking," Begay said with a laugh.

Begay's back also had difficulty holding its position on uneven lies, but he continues to remain upbeat and isn't interested in any pity parties.

"It's hard when you come off winning four times, play on the Presidents Cup team [in 2000] and are ranked in the top 25 in the world and then all of a sudden you can't come back to defend and can't play in the British Open when you're exempt," Begay said. "You hear about a lot of athletes dealing with depression and lack of motivation and lack of confidence. All those things have really had a dramatic effect on my outlook on golf, and there have been times when I wonder if all the pain and rehabilitation was worth it.

"But I don't feel bad for my situation or sorry for my myself because people in their jobs around the world deal with pain every day, and they go to work so why should I be any different," he said. "I hurt a little bit in the morning, but if I'm good enough to play, I'm going to go. I get up every day hoping I can improve a little bit. I'm just one of those guys that if I get a little bit of confidence, I can go a long way. Right now, I'm making a little confidence go a long way, but I'm not going to give up."