GOLF COLUMN: Begay's bad back begets good thing - Tuesday, August 19, 2008
By Jill Painter, Golf Columnist
Los Angeles Daily News
Notah Begay III was once a PGA Tour phenom.
He won four PGA events in two years, becoming the first American Indian to win on the PGA Tour.
He was a smart and engaging. A fresh face on tour. And he was a friend of Tiger Woods.
Begay's success was short-lived. A debilitating back injury rendered his golf swing essentially useless for nearly four years.
It was the best thing that could've happened. Not for him, but for some Native American children on Indian reservations.
Begay became a philanthropist when he started the NotahBegay III Foundation in 2005. The organization helps improve health and wellness of Native American children on Indian reservations nationwide.
Begay's foundation will receive national exposure Tuesday when he debuts the NB3 Challenge, a skins-game format with Vijay Singh, Camilo Villegas, Mike Weir, Stewart Cink and Begay. All proceeds from the $500,000event at the Turning Stone Resort in New York benefit Begay's foundation. Woods committed to the event, but was forced to withdraw because he's recovering from knee surgery.
"If it wasn't for the back injury, this thing never would've gotten off the ground," Begay said during a recent phone interview. "Between the years of '02 and '06, I had a lot of free time. I spent it in native communities. That's where I saw many of these kids after school just sitting around on the couch or on the bench outside. They were doing nothing. Doing absolutely nothing.
"I took it upon myself to figure out a way that they could be doing something productive. Sports had always been instrumental in my life."
Native American children aren't very familiar with golf, Begay said. But as long as he can help them start kicking around a soccer ball or shooting hoops, he doesn't mind.
Begay began playing golf when he was 6 because his father competed in a business league while working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The younger Begay was a natural, and golf became a vehicle for a top-notch education - he landed a scholarship to Stanford - and a star-studded friendship with Woods, whom he met on the junior golf circuit.
He figures through sport, hecan help change the self-esteem and confidence problems of poor children. He also hopes his organization can lessen the effect of diabetes, which is common among Native American children, and apathy.
"If I were a basketball player, I'd be known more since basketball is obviously the most wellknown sport on the reservation," Begay said. "Of all the hundreds of thousands of reservations, there's roughly only 200 golf courses. A lot of them don't know who I am or what I do. Even the ones that do don't really care. They have so much to deal with on a day-to-day basis that they don't have time to get lost in their dreams."
Begay, 35, is starting to give them the time and resources to dream using sport. He hopes to use his own life as inspiration.
A native of Albuquerque, N.M., Begay embraced his father's never-quit attitude. Notah Begay Jr. played basketball at Cal State Fullerton and was in the Marine Corps. He helped his son start the foundation.
The NB3 Challenge is sponsored by two Indian nations - the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians.
"The decision to be a founding sponsor was very simple, because the outcome of this initiative will directly affect the future of our children," said James Ramos, chairman of the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians. "The success of the youth sports programs with the (foundation) is apparent. It compelled us to participate in the challenge and to help extend the opportunities to other Native American communities."
Begay is back on the golf circuit - he has played in six PGA Tour events this year - and said his health is improving. He has made just two cuts, and tied for 53rd in the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.
The theme of his past year has been about change. He has hired a new swing coach and trainer and has a new equipment sponsor in Callaway, after several years with Nike. He moved to Dallas a year ago to work with new doctors and trainers.
"I pretty much cleaned house," Begay said. "Pretty much the only thing left standing was my wife."
He and his wife, Apryl, recently had their first child, Antonella.
Begay frequently chats with Woods and consulted him on fatherhood.
"She's opened my eyes to a lot of things," Begay said of his daughter. "That's another thing I've taken upon myself, to be a good father and husband. Those things are hard to find on the reservation. There's a lot of single parenting and a lot of single moms. A lot of fathers don't want to take responsibility for their kids.
"It all starts with the younger generation. We're hoping to do it piece by piece and program by program, exposing these kids to sound ideals and principles. It's not because we went out and got research from Stanford and Harvard. It's because we go in and work with these communities."
All thanks to a bad back.
