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AT&T NATIONAL

July 3, 2008

Notah Begay III

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

NELSON SILVERIO: Notah, 67 with six birdies and one bogey, just take us through your round.
NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, it was one hell of a surprise for me to be perfectly honest. I had not played a lot of golf this year, and my fourth event on the TOUR, and I've been spending a lot of time on mini-tours, and just when I ruptured my disk last May, I didn't really think I might be able to play. I seriously thought I wasn't going to be able to play anymore.
So to work back, hired new trainers, new doctors, new swing coach just in an effort to sort of make one last push for sort of getting my full-time status back, and today, just hit it really pretty solid.
I hit quite a few fairways and that's what you have to do out here. This of go course is very difficult from tee-to-green and you have to hit some fairways and put the ball in the right spots on the greens and if you do, you're going to hit some good putts, and I could easily have shot 5-, or 6-under today. I missed several putts inside six feet.

Q. Did you have surgery this past year?
NOTAH BEGAY III: Basically it was an eight-millimeter herniation only L4-L5 disk. So I still have a disk fragment in my spinal column, and I don't know that that's ever going to go away.
I take Celebrex every day, and as long as I do my exercises and don't get too fat, I'll be all right.

Q. Take us through the birdie, birdie start.
NOTAH BEGAY III: You know, driver, sand wedge and made about a 15-footer on the first hole and then chipped in from just in the right rough on No. 2 which got things off to a great start, and then hit a great drive on 8 and nice sand wedge to about 12 feet and made that, and my bogey was just -- I kind of got into the left trees and didn't have a chance to go for the green and had to pitch out again. That's actually maybe the first time I pitched out to a lay-up spot, so it was hard to do, because I wanted to hit it at the green. I knew that I could probably shoot another good score on the back nine.
And then 12, I hit a 3-wood into the right rough and hit an 8-iron from there to about six feet and made that and then parred in.

Q. What were your two misses on 16?
NOTAH BEGAY III: I missed my par putt, it was about six feet on 9. And I had a birdie putt from about four feet on 15. And then I had good looks. I had about a 15-footer on 16, and about 15 feet on 17. So I mean, they were just -- you know, I had really good looks.

Q. You're still putting left-handed?
NOTAH BEGAY III: Inside 15 feet. Left-handed on left-to-rights and right-handed on right-to-lefts.
I see the line better and being I can get the ball on-line a little bit easier that way, and it really helps when the greens get really fast. It makes it a lot easier to keep the ball above the hole and towards the hole.

Q. What's kept you going the last two or three years? What's the goal out there that makes you want to go through all this?
NOTAH BEGAY III: Mostly just to prove that I can do it, to myself, because aside from winning a major championship and playing on The Ryder Cup, I've achieved a lot in golf as far as collegiately and Walker Cup and winning on the TOUR.
But playing injured out here is I think better than not playing at all, because so many people dream about being on this TOUR and playing at this level and being at places like Congressional and I think for me to turn my back on that, I don't want to do that, it would be a shame, just out of respect for the game and my talent.

Q. You were out there with Steve who is also playing well; how much did that help?
NOTAH BEGAY III: Oh, it's great. We were kind of feeding off each other and he hit some really nice shots in there. I would follow him up and vice versa. Both Steve and John, they are great young players, and it's fun to get to know the young guys. I don't know them very well, but just to see them and how they play, it's encouraging, because these young guys hit it so far, and I wasn't too far behind them. I didn't feel like I was the old guy out there.

Q. You and Tiger obviously were teammates at Stanford for a while; you got a sponsor's exemption in here; do you press him for that or do you ask him for that or how does that work?
NOTAH BEGAY III: Certainly not. Not even last year. You know, we're friends, and we have our separate business interests, and I follow the channels that everyone else follows.
Obviously there's probably a little bit of special consideration given, but you know, I feel like I've been granted the invitation based on the merit of my accomplishments, which four-time winner and trying to make my way back, and sometimes you just need some opportunities to sort of help prove that you can play again.

Q. Do you still talk regularly?
NOTAH BEGAY III: Yeah, we talk. We've talked a lot more since he's in bed most of the time, so he's not as active now. Just always trying to be positive with him and he's so encouraging in what I've done and he's never lost faith and that's helped me through some of the tough times.

Q. And on your bag?
NOTAH BEGAY III: Yeah, I've got my three endorsements, obviously Callaway, but I'm sponsored by two Native American tribes, and that's part of an effort that I started about five or six years ago.
I started a consulting business to try and take advantage of my economics degree to try and help Native American tribes develop stronger economic businesses and strengthen their development of certain parts of their communities through the consulting group, we've been able to work with a handful of tribes, whether golf course development, youth education, health outreach, things like that. We try to act as a resource for them.
It's the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. It's a southern California tribe. They brought me on as ambassador to help promote some of their education initiatives for certain Native American groups.

Q. At the U.S. Open, Tiger was talking about your game and he said you used to be such a long hitter and one of the things that the back has really hurt you on is your length; how much yardage have you lost, and secondly, did the back injury last May, did that exacerbate that issue?
NOTAH BEGAY III: Yeah, a lot of it, hitting it long is as much mental as it is physical. So when you're dealing with chronic pain, it's tough to let it rip. We've all been there running to the first tee and you can take a couple of swings and you're like, oh, that doesn't feel right.
With some of the higher roughs that we play here, it's always in the back of your mind; if I just swing at this one too hard, you know, I'll be -- I'm out. When my back goes out, usually what happens is that herniation gets worse, and so it takes about six months or the swelling to come down.
It's difficult, but you know, I'm still able to get it out there a ways, for enough. I've played with enough guys that have done well to know that I don't need to hit it any further than I'm hitting now. I'm not in a position where it's going to get worse, so I'm thankful.

Q. You mentioned earlier, about losing weight; you look physically a lot better than last year. Did you lose weight?
NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, I mean, I've been trying to do everything. I started doing a lot more yoga and meditation, and just to try and -- I mean, you get so far ahead of yourself on the golf course, and just to help with my mental game and the yoga has helped with my flexibility. Just nutritionally, trying to be a little bit more conscious of what I'm putting in my body. I think that I've got to do everything, because I'm 35, I'm not 25.
So if something doesn't improve here in the next couple years, I'm probably going to call it quits.

Q. For people who have followed you a long time and are rooting for you, what's the No. 1 thing in your game that has to be strong to let you play and physically what's the thing that you wake up in the morning saying, I've got to really --
NOTAH BEGAY III: The physical part is very stable now. The programme we started -- I started working with a new trainer based out of Dallas, Ryan Overturf, and he's really created much more stability on my muscles, especially my low back, but he's also increased my ranges of motion and my strength through my swing. The one thing that has to happen now is I need to play tournaments. This is a great thing to build on for me and it will help me through the rest of the summer. Regardless of what happens tomorrow and this weekend, this weekend is a great building tool.
My goal is to have everything in order physically and mechanically from the golf side, and my equipment, I'm still unsure of some of the equipment in my bag. That's how far behind I am everybody else. I'm trying to get ready for Q-School so that I don't have any doubts and stuff. That's sort of my plan. This is just a great start to things.
NELSON SILVERIO: Notah, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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