Tough start costly in Jakarta - Wednesday, February 21, 2007

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- For the first time in his past five European Tour events, Notah Begay III missed the cut. He finished just two strokes off the cut line at the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open at the Damai Indah Golf and Country Club.

"When I stepped off the plane in Jakarta, it was with the hopes that I would be able to put together a solid week of golf," Notah said. "Things got thrown into an immediate tailspin after I double bogeyed the par-5 first hole on Thursday. A double bogey is hard to overcome in any tournament, but to do it on the first hole of the tournament was some bad timing. It also didn't help that I made two more double bogeys that day as well. I will most likely go the rest of the year without making three double bogeys in one round."

Notah opened the event, which concluded on Feb. 18th, with a 6-over-par 77. The eventual cut line was at 2-over.

"It would've been easy to walk off the course Thursday afternoon knowing that making the cut was unlikely, but based on the other parts of my game, I knew that wasn't the case," Notah said. "I approached Friday as if Thursday's round was just a freak accident and put together a very solid round of 69."

The 4-time U.S. PGA Tour winner scored a par on each of the three double-bogey holes from the previous round and finished with his 5th round under par this season.

"Dr. Gio Valiente, who I've been working with for over a year, and I have discussed at length that it's important to address patterns but to give little weight to one-time occurrences," Notah said. "My first round 77 is certainly not indicative of my play over the past month, so I will do my best not to let it affect my overall approach."

After some time off, Notah and his wife, Apryl, will travel to Singapore for his next European Tour stop.

"Apryl and I had a great time in Jakarta - taking in some of the local foods and learning more about the country's history," Notah said. "Last Monday, we headed to East Java to visit some of the ancient temples and shrines. We made plans to stay on a coffee plantation located in the highlands above the city of Jogjakarta. It was a good time to take a short break from practice, but I will be ready to do battle in my next event, the Singapore Masters."

Be sure to check back with Notah.com to follow NB3 in his quest to earn a fifth Tour victory.