Notah Begay III turned 50 on Wednesday and is preparing to embark on a second career moonlighting as a golfer on PGA Tour Champions – he’s signed up for Furyk & Friends next month in Jacksonville.
Begay won four times on the PGA Tour in a 10-month stretch in 1999 and 2000 before a back injury short-circuited his career. He made a successful transition as a TV commentator for NBC Sports and Golf Channel and has been walking the fairways with the likes of his former Stanford teammate Tiger Woods for the last decade.
Begay, who is scheduled to serve as captain of the U.S. Junior Presidents Cup this weekend in Charlotte, also has carved a niche in junior golf, creating the Notah Begay III Junior Golf Championship.
Begay was part of Stanford men’s golf national championship team in 1994, shot a 59 on the Korn Ferry Tour in 1998 and earned more than $5 million during his playing career.
He discusses the great mulligan that is the PGA Tour Champions and his eagerness to compete again, the time Tiger gave him a bad layup number and just how good Charlie Woods is – and could be – at golf.
GWK: Happy 50th! What’s the current state of your physical health and your ability to play on PGA Tour Champions?
Notah Begay III hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the second round of the 2005 Funai Classic at Walt Disney World Resort. Photo by USA TODAY Sports (©)
NOTAH BEGAY: Everything has been great so far. I mean, certainly when you turn 50, something hurts every day, but as far as the back goes, just a refresher, it was an eight-millimeter herniation in my L4-L5 disc that is still there, which would surprise a lot of back surgeons that I can actually walk upright because it’s uncomfortable at times but it’s not getting worse. Certainly, it’s not going to get better, but it’s not getting worse.
The stability of that situation has allowed me to practice regularly, train – I’ve probably dropped about 15 pounds since the beginning of the year.
My colleague at Golf Channel, Arron Oberholser who was covering the Champions Tour for a few years gave me the best piece of advice. He just said, “It’s very, very competitive; don’t expect to show up and be successful. You have to be ready. You have to train and go out there like it’s going to be a very competitive environment.”
GWK: Do you have a set number of tournaments in mind, or what happens if you get hot?
NB: For ’23, I’m…
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