Natives to Know: Notah Begay III

All of the other tour pros were playing at the Kemper Open on May 26th, 1999; but Begay, a member of the Navajo tribe, found himself in a wood-paneled room testifying before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs instead.

Almost exactly a year earlier, Begay had risen to fame when he shot a 59 in the second round of the Dominion Open. In addition to being the first full-blooded Native American to play on the PGA tour, Begay had joined the ranks of only about a dozen other players to ever achieve a golf score below 60. 

But that day, for Begay, the Senate committee room was the more important place to be. He was there to testify about his experience as a lower-middle class Native kid breaking into the moneyed world of professional golf. He was doing his part to help the committee explore activities that could improve the lives and odds of success for Native youth.

Begay’s incredible success in the game of golf were against the odds. You see, golf is an incredibly expensive sport that Begay found ways to pay for all by himself as a small child. He began working on his local municipal course at the age of 9 in exchange for playing privileges. It was an opportunity most kids – and particularly most Native American kids — would never have had access to. Begay didn’t waste the opportunity, and his hard work paid off.

The same year he testified for the Senate, Begay won two PGA tours. He went on to win two more PGA tours the year after that in 2000. His career was cut short due to chronic back injuries, but Notah Begay III left the game forever changed.

Today, you can see Begay on television, where he’s an on-course reporter and sports analyst for the GOLF Channel and NBC Sports’ PGA tournament coverage. He also devotes a lot of time to running the Notah Begay III Junior Golf National championship and his nonprofit, the NB3 Foundation, which exists to improve the health of Native youth.