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WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 8, 2004

Notah Begay III

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Notah, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the Wachovia Championship. Great finish today, four birdies in the last six holes. You creeped up the leaderboard. Make a couple of comments about your round and then we'll go into questions.

NOTAH BEGAY III: It looked bleak. There were guys that were making a move, obvious of which was Arron, and I had the honor of playing with the guy today and he really played a great round of golf, I'd like to say that first, and he maintained his composure, but he pulled me along. He was making a move and I felt like, gosh, if I'm going to have a chance to win this thing, I have to stay within two or three shots of him.

I just needed two or three things to happen, and that stretch of three holes there with three birdies really gave me the momentum I was looking for. And then to make a birdie on 17 like that, that was icing on the cake. I would never have done that, as well as my up-and-down on 18 was, that was a tough one.

Q. Speaking about tomorrow, it's been a while since you've been in this position, how do you approach it and what do you expect tomorrow?

NOTAH BEGAY: I expect a dog fight. The caliber of play out here is so high. Somebody mentioned to me there was a lot of attention paid to the amount of highly ranked players that were here, and obviously not a lot of them are on the leaderboard, but that just speaks to the depth of talent out here. And tomorrow it's just going to be -- somebody is going to come out from the mid pack and post a low score, obviously, and it's going to be up to the guys on the leaderboard to step up and rise to the challenge, and I'm looking forward to it.

Q. (Inaudible)?

NOTAH BEGAY III: Not at all. There were no indications that my game was anywhere near the level that I'm playing. I mean, one round, two rounds you can get away with, but three rounds at that level the way I've played it, I'm very happy and confident.

Q. Talk a little bit more about Arron's round and how he kind of got it going, and obviously you fed off of that?

NOTAH BEGAY III: Arron played solid. I've known him since college and he's worked his way out on Tour via the Nationwide and it's just a testament for the preparation that those guys get out there. I, myself, a graduate of the Nationwide, and you come out here and you're ready to compete. You know how to take care of yourself and mind your own business and the get the job done. He did that today. He held himself together real well. He hit the shots when he needed to hit them and he made the putts. He had a little hiccup on the last hole there, but other than that it was a great round.

Q. (Inaudible)?

NOTAH BEGAY: I went up to him and I looked him in the eye and said, hey, let's go out there and get this thing tomorrow. Let's see who can win it.

Q. Take us through 17. That's a hole that got a lot of guys but not you.

NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, if you can quit staring at the big lake left and the ravine right, and focus on the little green, it's a great golf hole, especially in that sequence, 16, 17, 18. Each hole has one aspect of it that's going to provide you with a challenge, and 17 is the water, and today I had about an 80-foot putt on 16, but 17 was probably the one thing that energized my round the most.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: On that note, let's go through your round real quick starting on 3.

NOTAH BEGAY III: I missed the fairway and pitched out and hit it up to about 10 feet and missed the putt.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Birdie on four.

NOTAH BEGAY III: 9-iron to about three feet.

7, birdie, hit it in the bunker just short of the green, made a 10-footer for birdie.

Bogey on 8, lost my drive right. That's my caddie's fault. (Laughter.) Tried to make par, but I hit a bad chip and that's just a tough green.

Bogey on 9, missed it left with a 3-iron and just drew a really awful lie. If I was going to be aggressive in there, I might have skulled it over the green, so I tried to get a little too cute.

Birdied 10, green-side in two and got up-and-down.

Bogeyed 11, just pulled my second shot left and didn't get up-and-down, missed about a 15-footer.

And then birdied 13, hit a 5-iron, made a long putt.

Took driver on 14, hit it about pin-high and just right of the green, got up-and-down.

Made it from just off the green on 15 for birdie.

And then 17, hit a 4-iron right behind the hole made about a 12-footer.

Q. (Inaudible)

NOTAH BEGAY III: Yes, I have. I haven't hit the ball in the fairway in the rough left all week. My miss is not left. Today, it was an absolute -- for me to stay in the golf tournament to take driver in that hole. That's just a competitor in me. Obviously, I'm not an exempt player, so you can sort of justify laying up, but I show up every Monday and I want to win, and that was the play for me to stay in the event and it worked out well for me.

Q. Tell us a little bit about Arron.

NOTAH BEGAY III: Arron, he's a quiet individual and really can go unnoticed at times, but when it's time to compete, he really knows how to put some rounds together. He had a lot of success on the Nationwide Tour and it's just a matter of time before he breaks out out here. He's been in contention a few times, and it's a learning curve out here. Some guys can come out and win right away, the others have the talent they just have to find the inner confidence to get the job done on Sunday, and we're all going to have another challenge tomorrow, which is going to be fun.

Q. Talk about what a win at an event like this, with this kind of field would mean to you?

NOTAH BEGAY III: I would know what it would feel like to be on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. I mean, I've won times before, it would solidify the fact that I've made it back through the injury. That would be about it. Then I could refocus on other things and maybe even a late surge at the Ryder Cup or something like that. I mean, you can't do one before you accomplish the other.

For me, tomorrow I'm going out and maintaining my composure and enjoying it, because I haven't been here in a long time and I'm going to really have fun tomorrow.

Q. Knowing Tiger the way you do, were you surprised to see him struggle as much as he did today?

NOTAH BEGAY III: I have. I was very surprised. It's just sort of, I think -- he's experiencing sort of the ebb and flow that exists in the game that all of us experience on a more regular basis. I mean, it's just proving that he is mortal to a certain extent, but I think a player of his caliber and his work ethic and competitive drive, he's going to do whatever it takes to acquire that edge that he's had for so long.

Like I said a couple of days ago, I'm not worried about him because he really knows how to take care of business.

Q. On 17 there were so many people and then when you made that putt, what was that like?

NOTAH BEGAY III: I mean, it's so loud, you can't hear yourself think. I mean, I was just happy it went in, so I didn't hear too much. They're so receptive and the crowds here have been so happy to have us. I just wonder why we haven't come here earlier. The tournament has been so well run and the fans just come out by the thousands, and they enjoy what we're doing and it feels so good to be appreciated.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Notah, for joining us.

End of FastScripts.

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