Notah Hits Three to Make Cut - Monday, May 15, 2006

FORT SMITH, Ark. - A dramatic ending to his 2nd Round at the Rheem Classic helped Notah Begay III make his fifth consecutive cut on the Nationwide Tour. With final rounds of 74 and 70, respectively, Notah finished in a tie for 58th place.

Following his second round, Notah discussed how he made his fifth cut in a row…

"I hadn't made many birdies over the first couple of rounds," Notah said, "but that's partially due to the extremely windy conditions that made club selection difficult."

After five consecutive rounds under par, the streak came to an end with Thursday's 1st Round as Notah tallied four bogeys against only two birdies for a 2-over par 72 at the Hardscrabble Country Club.

"My second round was going along fairly steady," Notah said, "starting off with 10 consecutive pars."

Notah's last birdie was on the 15th hole of his 1st Round, 13 holes ago.

"I then made the very costly mistake of bogeying the reachable par-5 11th hole after hitting my second shot over the green and into the hazard," Notah said. "That bogey put my chances of playing the weekend in jeopardy and I knew that I'd need at least two birdies to have any chance of making the cut."

The cut line was at +1 and Notah was at +3 for the tournament, two strokes back.

According to Notah, "I couldn't make anything happen over the next four holes and found myself backed into a corner. My only chance was to birdie as many holes down the stretch as possible."

His birdie drought had reached a full 18 holes. Only three holes remained.

"On the par-4 16th, I hit a perfect drive down the left side leaving a great angle to the pin," Notah said. "I hit a 9 iron to 18 feet and then sunk the putt."

Two holes to go and Notah was one stroke back of the cut line. Players who miss the cut also miss out on playing in the weekend's final two rounds or earning any prize money.

"Heading to the 17th tee, I knew it wasn't time to let up as scoring on the Nationwide Tour is always very good. I took a 7 iron and judged the wind and distance perfectly, landing the ball 3 feet from the cup, which led to a second birdie."

With only one hole remaining, Notah was on the cut line at +1 thanks to two birdies in a row.

"The game had just begun at that point as I suspected that the cut might eventually move to even par," Notah said, "which made a 3 on the final hole imperative."

No. 18 at Hardscrabble is a 437-yard par-4 with a blind tee shot into a narrow fairway, which doglegs left and uphill.

Notah said, "I hit a perfect drive down the middle leaving me 137 yards to the 'jug.' I pulled the (pitching wedge) from my bag knowing that it was all or nothing. I hit the shot with perfect distance as it ended up 12 feet right of the pin."

As he had guessed, the cut line moved from +1 up to even par and Notah was now in jeopardy of missing the cut as he was at +1.

"I now stared down a putt that would determine my weekend prospects. It broke slightly from left to right and I stepped up and stroked it in the hole left-handed."

He scored three birdies in a row to close out his round and make his fifth consecutive cut.

"I haven't played a stretch of holes that well in quite some time," Notah said. "I didn't miss a shot."

Ironically, next up for the 4-time PGA Tour winner is next week's Henrico County Open at The Dominion Club where, back in 1998, Notah didn't miss many shots en route to a still-active course record 59.

Begay Remembers Magic 59 - Notah was recently feature in the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch in a preview of the Henrico County Open - click here to read it.