FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 27, 2002

Notah Begay III

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: We're joined by Notah Begay. Great round today, Notah, out there. You had a lot of fun. Best round of the year. Why don't you make a couple of comments and we will go into questions.

NOTAH BEGAY: Yeah, definitely the best round of the year by far. Probably the best round in about 18 months. Since the whole injury thing started. And it just feels good to sort of put yourself in a position to shoot some good scores. I wouldn't say that I made everything out there, but I definitely hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens and did the things that you need to do to play well.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Questions?

Q. Do you feel like you're coming back a little bit?

NOTAH BEGAY: Definitely. I think last year was not -- not last year, I'm sorry, last week was a huge step in the right direction. I think I got two things going in my favor right now is Hartford and Memphis were two places I had won. So those were my most recent successful venues. And I know I'm sort of in a different position as far as my career goes trying to come back from an injury, but it's nice to be able to try and build upon good scores at places where you've had success. So it's a comfortable feeling to be shooting low scores here. Because I've done it in the past.

Q. With the injury last year, does last year almost feel like kind of a lost year for you? How do you put that in perspective?

NOTAH BEGAY: Gosh, I've been trying for a long time. I just, I think I just forgave myself for being hurt. A lot of my bad scores and if you look back over the tournaments I played, were just products of my injury. And I just struggled just trying to get through a round of golf. And now it's time to get back to work.

Q. How much is just getting ill and then once you get ill, how much is it just getting comfortable with your game again?

NOTAH BEGAY: I think it's getting acclimated to everything out here. The increased crowds, the trying to block a lot of things out. I mean, you're playing with players that are at a very high level. When I first started playing at the beginning of the year, I knew that I probably wasn't going to be able to compete for a while because I just wasn't, I was away from golf for so long that it wasn't realistic for me to come out and feel like I could play with the guys on the PGA TOUR. But there wasn't any place else for me to really play, to sort of rebuild my game. So I came out here and just got my butt kicked on a regular basis, missed 11 straight cuts. But I wasn't going into those weeks -- and I'm probably one of the few players out here that can honestly say I wasn't going into those weeks trying to win. I was going into those weeks trying to make an accurate assessment of how my injury was coming along. And it wasn't until I could play five or six days in a row and practice on those same days that I knew I was healed. And that was about four weeks ago. And so we're just now moving into the next sort of genre of the whole rehabilitation process. And I'm moving further away from pain and fatigue and discomfort, and I'm moving closer to confidence and strength.

Q. How much did your confidence take a beating during that period when you were hurt?

NOTAH BEGAY: Huge amounts. But I always tried to keep it in perspective and realize that golf on the PGA TOUR at its very worst, is a heck of a lot better than what I could be doing. And I mean not to be repetitive or something, but with everything that happened this past September, and with all the turmoil going around in the world, you just realize that an injured day on the golf course is something of a privilege.

Q. How much did the injury to affect your mechanics, your swing and how hard was that?

NOTAH BEGAY: I built up some bad habits trying to generate power on with sort of a -- with not all the parts running right. So I was trying to run the Indy 500 with a Chevy pickup, and you just can't do that. So I picked up bad habits, some bad habits. And both my teacher, Bryan Gathright and my trainer Chris Frankel have identified some of those. And we have addressed them and we got pretty much things under control now. So I'm almost an Indy 500 car.

Q. Could you spell those guys names?

NOTAH BEGAY: First name, Bryan, B R Y A N, G A T H R I G H T. Chris C H R I S, F R A N K E L. But I guess as far as mechanics go, my mechanics are better than they have ever been. And I think it's because I tried to take out a page of some of the great sixth man in the NBA's experience, in that you can learn a lot from sitting on the sidelines. And I was sitting on the sidelines and trying to still learn. I was watching tournaments and trying to think through the holes and play the holes with whoever was in contention that week and trying to feel what they were feeling and see what they were seeing. Because I had been, not only been on the course, but I had been in the winners circle and I had success at high levels. And so although I wasn't out here physically, I never truly lost touch with the game. And so mentally I sort of felt like the changes, we made because of my injury to become more efficient, are starting to pay off finally.

Q. How much would you get into that, the mental side? Would you find yourself really into a watching guy? Anybody in particular?

NOTAH BEGAY: I just, not one particular player, more like situations. Whether it was a person that was trying to make a cut that needed to make a certain putt on Friday or someone that was trying to get into a top-10. And so you sort of, just as the camera moves, you shift your mindset. So if it was someone trying to make a win, make a putt to get in an play-off, you would say, "okay, I wonder what they're thinking. Are they thinking speed, are they thinking line, are they thinking, oh God, don't shank it." And so I just tried to put myself in their shoes and I tell you, it's helped me to sort of find my coordination a lot faster.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Go through the rounds, please.

NOTAH BEGAY: Sure. I started on the backside. 10. Birdied 11. 7-iron to about 10 feet.

Q. Bogey on 14?

NOTAH BEGAY: Bogey on 14. I was pin high just left of the green. Hit a terrible pitch shot and missed about a three footer. So it was really -- well, it was my only mistake of the day and it was something that 9 times out of 10 I get up-and-down.

Q. 18?

NOTAH BEGAY: 18, chip in just over the green.

5, had about a 50-yard bunker shot and hit it in there about two feet.

6, 6-iron off into about 25 feet and made the putt.

7, 5-iron to about four feet.

8, 8-iron, five feet.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Okay. Thank you, Notah for joining us.

NOTAH BEGAY: Great. Thank you.

End of FastScripts....