Ready to go at TSRC - Wednesday, September 19, 2007

VERNON, N.Y. -- After celebrating his 35th birthday last Friday, Notah Begay III will continue the festivities into this week as he helps give birth to the inaugural Turning Stone Resort Championship. "The unique elements about this year's Turning Stone Resort Championship will get the event started on the right foot," said Notah, who is also ambassador for the resort. "The venue and title sponsorship are the first to come to mind as it's the first full-field PGA Tour event to be held on Native American land, along with the fact that the Oneida Nation of New York is the title sponsor. It's the culmination of many dreams I've had of tribes becoming more involved on the corporate side of the game, which I feel will provide more positive exposure to a worldwide audience for their businesses." Exposure, collaboration and partnership is exactly what the 1995 Stanford graduate had in mind. "Golf has given me so much personally and it makes me so happy for the Native American People to have a collaborative partnership with the PGA Tour," Notah said. "Such a partnership moving forward puts the Oneidan Nation at the same level as other formidable corporate sponsors like FedEx, Wachovia and AT&T, just to name a few. The economic impact that tribally-held businesses have on their local communities is often overlooked due to the fact that they're often kept out of mainstream media. "The Turning Stone Resort Championship provides a clear cut forum for people to see the positive benefits that tribes have had on their local economies. The Oneida Nation has also gone a step further in making the event the first 'all green' PGA tournament. Such measure speaks to the historical respect that all Native American tribes have for the land and their surroundings. I know that this will set a great example for other events and I'm sure we'll see more 'all green' events in the future." Also with regards to the 'green', Notah, who will tee off at 11:54 am (ET) on Thursday, will shoot for the first-place check of $1,080,000. Be sure to check back with Notah.com to follow NB3 in his quest to earn a fifth PGA Tour victory.