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AT&T NATIONALJuly 3, 2007Notah Begay IIIBETHESDA, MARYLAND JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Notah, thanks for joining us here at the AT&T National, playing on a sponsor exemption this week. You probably have a lot to talk about. First let's talk about your year, you've played ten events on The European Tour, maybe talk about your experience over there. NOTAH BEGAY III: Yeah, after I lost my full-time exempt status here on the U.S. Tour, I thought it would be a good idea to change the scenery. And I've been struggling with my back injury for so long, that's kind of an old story. But went to the Q-School last fall and started out my year in Europe and playing ten events over there and nine different countries, and on three different continents that I had not spent a lot of time on. It was a fantastic trip for my wife and I, and we got to very some places that we had only read about or seen on the History Channel or Discovery. We made a lot of good friends and I got to really know a lot of the guys on The European Tour real well, and it's been a great experience. Unfortunately I reinjured my back about eight weeks ago and I've been over in the U.S. since then. It forced me to come back a little earlier than anticipated. I'm sort of trying to work my way back to -- I don't know, to average golf, but we'll see what happens. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: You played last week at Hartford, maybe just talk about the state of your game and the state of your back, I guess. NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, I've got a seven-millimeter disk herniation. So I've basically got a disk fragment in my spine that's pushing it right up against my sciatic nerve. I've been dealing with it for so long that I've developed a pretty high pain tolerance. Most people wouldn't be able to sort of deal with it on a daily basis. But like I said, the last six years dealing with injuries, you kind of learn how to play with pain so I've just been dealing with that. If it doesn't really get better or sometimes the nerve and the disk learn to coexist peacefully. If that happens, I might not need surgery. Otherwise, I'm scheduled to have surgery this fall. Q. Tiger talked about your friendship and about your freshman year at Stanford; that you hazed him, you loaded the bags with extra weight and made him carry them. Can you confirm that story? NOTAH BEGAY III: It wasn't so much hazing. I felt it was my responsibility as next great golfer was to develop and make him strong. So his first week on campus, I pulled him aside and I put my arm around him and I told him he was going to be the strongest player in the country. He thought that I meant golf, but I actually meant that he's going to be carrying our bags for the first semester. He was great. What an experience, what a team; we look back on that now, and I think we hold on to those memories much tighter now than we did five or six years ago, because we realize those were some of the most easygoing and fun times of our lives. We didn't know how lucky we had it. We were on full scholarship and all we did was eat, sleep, play golf and occasionally go to class. Q. Did you know back then, did you have any idea how good he would be? NOTAH BEGAY III: We had some ideas. I mean, being with him day-in, day-out and seeing the sort of -- his ability to learn and develop and improve, and to sort of practice at a very high rate with high intensity, and those are great formulas for success out here. And I just think that the talent was there, but through his work efforts, it was sort of -- it's been brought to the surface. You can look at any sport throughout history, there's been product dies and there's been people that have tremendous talent, whether it's in football, basketball, hockey, whatnot, that just have flopped. So talent isn't always the bend indicator for an athlete's success. I mean, they have to have the mental capacity to deal with you guys. I mean, that's something that he deals with on a weekly basis that no other player has to deal with at that level. And so he's got to be able to deal with these things at certain levels of intensity and be able to have the capacity to focus on golf, which he's been the best at. Q. From a business standpoint, though, back then, would you have envisioned ever sitting here now at a PGA TOUR stop with his name on it? NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, certainly. That's what we go to Stanford for, to develop all of our business savvy and acumen, right? (Laughter). Well, you see the tournaments, you see the other great players, and maybe not -- I mean, back then, we were just worried about showing up to class and making sure we weren't late for the bus to go to the tournament. I mean, we weren't really trying to figure out how much money we were going to make and how many victories we were going to post. It was just, well, that's the TOUR, that's far off in the future. Just like when we got on TOUR, being a parent and getting married was way off in the future, and all of a sudden, he has a child now and we're both married and it's just kind of like, this just happened so fast. But I certainly felt like he was going to do great things, not only in golf, but as far as his business, as well. Q. In all of the discussions, did you ever talk about being a father with him; did that ever come up with you guys? NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, both of our fathers had a tremendous influence on the development of our personal careers. I actually -- Earl always took time for me, I mean, because we played in a lot of junior tournaments, and more often than not, we were the only two minorities in the whole field. So Earl knew, having dealt with prejudice and racism throughout his minor league baseball career and in the military or whatnot, he saw maybe what we didn't see. Tiger and myself, we just saw ourselves as golfers. We were just competitors. But Earl always took time for me to just sort of encourage me and sort of make sure that I was looked out for and I've always appreciated that about that entire family. The entire Woods family has always been great to me. Q. Would you have seen Tiger as a father at that juncture? NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, certainly not, no. None of us can barely take care of ourselves and make our own beds, much less change Pampers and nurse -- well, thankfully we don't have to nurse. That's one good thing. Q. You mentioned actually making your own beds. You used to room with the guy on the road and you know how attentive he can be to detail, borderline anal, ironing his shirt and making his bed in hotel rooms; you're probably the least surprised guy that they pulled this off in four months, given the way that guy is wired. NOTAH BEGAY III: I wasn't surprised at all. The sponsors were probably having a little fist fight in the back room to see who was going to get the opportunity to partner. I mean, you don't even look at it as a sponsorship; it's a partnership. Because Tiger is the type of person that has a tremendous amount of loyalty to a lot of people that have provided him with certain opportunities. And this is an opportunity for him to showcase his own event and to showcase a tremendous venue like this in such a short period of time. I think it's not a surprise, but it's definitely a tremendous effort, and a lot of credit has to go to Greg McLaughlin for orchestrating the whole thing. Q. How has his game changed? How have you seen his game change over the last ten or 15 years? NOTAH BEGAY III: Just he's developed more control of the trajectories of his shots. Early on, he was all power and less finesse. In the last three or four years, you've really seen the onset of much more finesse, but not just finesse in the short clubs. He can shape shots and control trajectories better than anybody in the world. And that was clearly evident at last year's British Open, where he just -- I mean, he just played so much better than everybody else. He hit some shots that really no one else could hit under those circumstances. So I've just seen a better control of trajectories and shape on his ball. Q. He was just telling us how he played -- he finished second at the U.S. Open knowing that his wife was in the hospital since Thursday. That's an incredible amount of concentration and mental discipline to pull that off; can you imagine that? NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, you've got to understand, when you grow up with a father and a military background -- my father is an ex-Marine, you've got to learn how to focus when you're getting yelled at and you've got to learn how to focus when you have distractions. And when more often than not, I would have to say when he's on the golf course, he's a golfer. And once he steps off, then he's a celebrity, he's a father, he's a husband, just go down the list, depending on what situation he's in. But I think in that particular instance, he was so focused on winning that golf tournament and knowing that his wife was strong enough to deal with the things that she was dealing with; give her some credit, too. And that once things turned out the way they did that was his next priority. So it's just a high-level ability to focus and I think that's what often is overlooked. Everybody talks about the talent, the power and whatnot. But the intensity and the focus that he demonstrates in his schedule, in his life, is very, very admirable. Q. I just wanted to say, with the Tiger Woods Foundation, and Tiger has done so much to expose inner city children to golf, and there are a lot of children that have taken up the game of golf, but yet they probably don't have resources themselves to play the game as often as they would like. Do you have any insight or information as to what is available to children that are primarily inner city youth throughout the nation; is there any assistance or help for those wanting to continue playing golf or start playing golf? NOTAH BEGAY III: The best resource for access to the game for kids that are sort of still minors under the age of 17 is programs like The First Tee and other programs through their local section PGA golf. I think they have been the best at trying to collaborate resources and trying to provide access to a game that is very successful for underserved communities. I think that you have to look to working with maybe more community-type centers and trying to create more grant opportunities, because there is grant funding for activities for 501(c)(3) organizations like that and other organizations that serve certain socioeconomic communities that are either determined at-risk or in need. But it's a major problem. I mean, I think that you're seeing it now with so few minorities in elite-level positions, whether you look at the division one rosters as far as men's and women's golf is concerned, are you look at the PGA TOUR. There's very few in the developmental tours, and there's even fewer at the collegiate level. So hopefully somebody will come up with a good idea on how to provide more access. Q. On that note, I know your charities and your work with Native American kids to get them into golf is very close to you. Can you talk a little bit about that? NOTAH BEGAY III: One thing I also tease Tiger about is that I did graduate with my degree; he didn't, but he got his Masters a lot earlier than I have. (Laughter) I'd look to soccer. I mean, some of the most competitive teams in the World Cup every four years are some of the lowest -- some of the poorest. And so I felt like through -- I don't have obviously the resources that a Tiger Woods Foundation does have, but through our sort of fund-raising efforts, we have been able to stretch our dollars in developing soccer programs in Native American communities, which also serves a secondary purpose of offsetting the early on site of diabetes, which is three times the national average in Native American communities. So I've tried to use both the money that we have to get kids more active, get them involved in something positive, but also help them develop healthier lifestyles. But we do also work with a small and Navajo community in New Mexico with our golf program and hope to do more in the next couple years. Q. I and severing people in this room saw you playing golf with Tiger this morning; how is your back feeling and how hard is it for you to keep coming back and to keep having these setbacks? NOTAH BEGAY III: I think the hardest thing is everyone keeps asking me questions like you're asking me. It's one of those things that's hard to get over because the physical part sort of speaks for itself and you wake up and you're in pain every day. The things that I've always tried to keep myself going is everyone -- a lot of people in this country have chronic pain and I know what that's like now. And so if they can get up and go to work and not really enjoy it, so can I. (Laughter). You know, golf has become more of a job for me in the last three or four years than it is fun, because I've really dealt with a tremendous amount of just physical discomfort, whether it's in long plane rides or on the golf course. But when you're out there with your best friend, you're playing golf at Congressional and you're getting ready for one of the biggest TOUR events of the year, it kind of gives you a chance to forget about all of that for a while. That was a great break for me and I really appreciate the chance to be here. Q. Given the way Tiger is about doing things right and first class, where do you see this thing in five years; way up there on the list? NOTAH BEGAY III: Oh, I definitely see it as -- aside from the majors, probably one of the top 5 events on the schedule. The schedule is always evolving, and the TOUR is always trying to find the best ways to provide value for the corporate sponsors, as well as make it interesting for the fans. I think that's what you're seeing with the FedExCup. And I think Commissioner Finchem and the staff and administration and players will continue to do a good job in working with Tiger to help him develop the best event possible. Because if his event reflects well on the TOUR, it reflects well on everybody. So I think that in a nutshell will sort of act as a springboard for this event to move up into one of the elite events, not just on this TOUR, but in the world. Q. I apologize for asking this come in late, if you've been asked this, stop, did Tiger talk at all about playing in the Open and knowing what was going on with Elin; did you have any idea? NOTAH BEGAY III: No, no, I didn't really get into that. I asked him just about the first few weeks of parenting, that's about all. Q. What did he tell you? NOTAH BEGAY III: Just not as much sleep as he's used to and just kind of trying to just acclimate to the responsibilities and trying to remember stuff. Q. He told us that he knew on Thursday and there were some complications Thursday in the Open. I wonder as a player, how does somebody get through four days of playing the U.S. Open knowing that? NOTAH BEGAY III: Yeah, we discussed this earlier, and it's just his amazing ability to focus and stay -- concentrate on the task at hand. Q. When you're not in a big event like the Masters, do you actually watch it on TV to see how Tiger does? NOTAH BEGAY III: Yeah, primarily I'm like the rest of America. When he has a chance to win, I watch. Because inevitably, there's a good chance something amazing will happen. Q. Until this year, he had never gone -- had the lead on Sunday at a major and not won. Obviously it's unfair and he's a victim of his own success, but are you surprised the way those two tournaments turned out, the Masters and the U.S. Open? Do you have any special insights as to sort of where those one or two strokes he's usually able to shave off were? NOTAH BEGAY III: Man, I don't give that guy any advice anymore. I mean, you have to be surprised. When he's that close -- but not so much surprised at his inability to win the events, but that these players, they had the capacity to sustain the lead, and to continue to fight for those victories. And you have to give I think a lot more credit to the players that one, because they rose up to the challenge. Because the players on this TOUR are very, very good. Maybe not over the course of an entire year can they play at the level of a Tiger Woods, but there's one of a hundred guys out here that on any given week, can and will go head-to-head with him and not be afraid. And that sort of threshold was broken a few years ago with players going down the stretch and pulling out a victory. It's like the old four-minute mile marker; once somebody did it, then everybody got it in their mind that they can do it. So it's just a matter of, he's going to have to elevate if he's going to sort of reinstill that fear factor in everybody. Q. You're talking about Rich Beem at the PGA? NOTAH BEGAY III: Yeah, just players that, heck, you should be keeping another stat, how many more majors will all of those guys that he finished second to win. I don't know, none of them have come close yet, have they. Q. How does he elevate? NOTAH BEGAY III: He'll find a way. (Laughter). Q. What do you think of the course and where do you see the opportunities for a couple of birdies? NOTAH BEGAY III: Mine or anybody? Just keep it out of the rough. The greens are holding. They have had some fantastic weather and it's in great shape. I think that if you're playing from the fairway, the golf course is very fair. But if you're hitting out of the rough, it's U.S. Open level type of rough. And so I think that that's really going to be a determining factor in scoring out here is just being in the fairway. Q. What do you think about that section, 9, 10 and 11? NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, you'd better -- if you're in the morning and you're off No. 10, you'd better have a lot of warm up time and you'd better drink your coffee, because there's no easing into that back nine. Because you've got a very long and hard par 3, followed by a very, very difficult par 4. And so that's just, you know, it's just a great golf course in terms of the challenges that it provides. You're going to hit every club in your bag, and there's not a lot of easy holes. So you just kind of have got to be patient and realize that, I mean, I don't want to say this, but no one is going to shoot, you know, 64 or 65. Someone might do it once, but it's just not -- it's not out there. Q. Is it disappointing on some level that you did almost have to turn to soccer, as opposed to it being strictly golf? NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, it's disappointing, but disappointing that only in the regard that golf isn't more affordable. It's the reality of just the equipment needs and the facility and the access to the facilities. I mean, golf courses themselves are having to compete with more venues and smaller margins, and so it's harder for them to justify letting 50 kids on a golf course for free now than it was ten years ago. So although there's more interest now from the youth side, it's harder to get into facilities and work facilities, which has been the savior of junior golf in the form of The First Tee is that they have separate facilities that are specifically designated for these kids. So my take on it is that on a lot of the Indian reservations, there are no golf courses, and some of them you have to drive an hour or two hours to get to the nearest one. So my plan for growth would be very minimal if I were trying to expand to more communities from a golf standpoint, because it's just not realistic to get these kids to a facility. So I'm just trying to do the best with what I have, and I think soccer has been a very tangible opportunity for these kids to work on heir health, stay active and have a lot of fun. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Notah, thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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