home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BUICK CHAMPIONSHIP

June 30, 2006

Notah Begay III

CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Notah, for joining us for a few minutes in the media center at the Buick Championship. Kind of an interesting day, I hear.

Scott Verplank was in here a few minutes ago and he also is at 6 under. And D.J. Trahan made a double bogey to drop from 7 to 5. What's going to happen out here this afternoon?

NOTAH BEGAY III: I don't know. I really think that if the winds stay where they're at the greens are starting to firm up a little. On the 7th hole, my ball hit pin high and bounced over the back edge. And I hadn't seen that in the first 27 holes. I think the wind is having a drying effect on the greens, which is going to make club selection a little bit harder.

Q. You mentioned down at No. 9 the great memories you have. Stewart Cink was in here and he said he can remember shots he hit ten years ago when he won here, basically. Are you the same way? Do you have a lot of memories and comfort levels?

NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, Stewart has played a lot better golf than me in the last five years, so he's probably taking memories from quite a few different places and building on those.

As for myself, I haven't been playing good golf since I've been injured and it's been very sporadic. A lot of very painful years as far as just waking up in pain every day. 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, I got out of trouble there. It's allowed me to stay calm, because I have a lot of nervous energy. I haven't been in position like this before. And just playing well.

I didn't go into today going, I'm going to be leading the tournament after today. I just went out knowing I haven't made a cut on Tour this year, I'd like to. And with limited status, if I can play well here, I can possibly play next week. There's just a lot of things riding.

So you just try kind of to calm yourself down and not hit bad shots. And right off the first tee I almost hit it out of bounds. So much for positive thinking. (Laughter.)

Q. Last year you told me as far as your health was concerned, every day, that you didn't know what to expect. Compare your health last year to right now.

NOTAH BEGAY III: I think it's better, but it's really hard to explain, because physically I don't look hurt, but I've endured a tremendous amount of pain in terms of having mobility issues in my back and in my hip. I had a major sciatic develop last May which prevented me from walking, literally for two weeks. I couldn't walk but maybe three or four steps without taking a break.

The initial disk injury, the torn disk that I incurred after the 2000 season was only the beginning and the rehabilitative process has gone on so much longer. I'm still recovering and I still have pain. It hit me a couple of times out there today. When I get uneven lies, my back sometimes doesn't want to hold the position and I hit it kind of bad. But I'm just trying to deal with it.

Q. Is every day different?

NOTAH BEGAY III: Yesterday I felt great. I was teasing my caddie, I go, I felt so much better yesterday physically. And I go, Watch, I'll probably score better today. And I did. That's golf, I guess.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Let's go through your four birdies. You started on 10. Birdied 15.

NOTAH BEGAY III: I did, yes. Hit driver off the tee, I think it's a driver every day, and chipped it up there about six feet and made the putt right handed.

16, hit 8 iron off the tee to about 25 feet and made the putt.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Right handed?

NOTAH BEGAY III: Right handed. I don't think I made very many lefty today. Maybe I should go practice.

No. 2, driver, pitching wedge, to like 30 feet and made that.

6, I laid up. Hit driver, 3 iron, and laid up and hit it in there about six feet, made that putt.

Q. Are you still alternating your putting like six years ago?

NOTAH BEGAY III: Yes, I am.

Q. Is there a criteria to decide which side?

NOTAH BEGAY III: If it's a longer putt, I'll usually hit it right handed, anywhere outside of 25 feet or so. But inside about a 20 foot circle it's based on break and I always want to have a hook putt.

Q. At different times have you thought that you were done with golf?

NOTAH BEGAY III: Quite a few. You kind of start thinking you start thanking yourself for finishing school. If you look at my performance the last four years, it's been so bad. It's been inconsistent. And I've gone, you know, six, seven months without even playing at times. You just can't get good like that. I definitely have entertained thoughts of life after golf at the tender age of 33.

Q. (No microphone.)

NOTAH BEGAY III: Just when I woke up and didn't have the will to do my workouts or rehab and practice, in spite of the pain. I felt like that was going to be the indication that it was going to be time to do something else.

Q. Has anyone explained to you why it hasn't gotten better? Is it golf?

NOTAH BEGAY III: No, not so much golf. It's the muscle went into a short protective mode when I injured the disk originally. So my job and my trainer's job was to get the muscles to lengthen, but when they lengthen, they're weak and they're untrained again, so you have to retrain them all. So basically the last three years has been a process of lengthening, retraining, lengthening and retraining. As the lengthening occurs, the pain starts to get less, but it's been frustrating.

Q. (No microphone.)

NOTAH BEGAY III: Pretty much.

Q. What's a preround routine? How long do you stretch? How long do you prepare to play?

NOTAH BEGAY III: The preround routine is you try, about 30 or 40 minutes before I go to the range, you put time on the bike, and you get the blood flowing, and then you stretch the muscles and run them through a short series of stabilization exercises to get them to fire in the right sequence, basically what I'm trying to get them to do on the range but it's more for rehabilitative reasons.

Q. You've been through a lot of adversity. How do you maintain a positive attitude through them all?

NOTAH BEGAY III: I still consider myself very lucky to be a member of the Tour and be a part of I think a great organization that has a tremendous track record with community service. In spite of what's happened to me, I still have an opportunity to have a positive effect on my communities back in New Mexico.

I started a foundation last year. I started a soccer program. I got 150 kids on the field from a local from my reservation. So it's really given me a platform to not only being a role model through certain avenues, but also to just have a good impact on people. I don't need to have a good resume on the golf course to be a positive member of my community.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Notah.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297