Published Aug 22, 2009
Thunderwolf, MSN, RN
3 Articles; 6,621 Posts
Alone.
This is how Notah Begay III describes his journey as a youth with golf aspirations to a Division I athlete and now a professional golfer.
Begay, a Navajo, Isleta and San Felipe Pueblo, is one of the few Native professional athletes in the world. The 36-year-old is a Stanford graduate and the lone full-blooded Native golfer on the PGA Tour, where he is a four-time winner.
"I always felt alone," he said in a media conference call Monday. "Through my entire career because I was the only Indian on the whole golf course.
What really kept me together was knowing that Native American people were always supportive of me, always behind me. That's what kept me going and it keeps me going to this day."
Today Begay is doing his part to help Native youth on and off the golf course.
Four years ago, he created the Notah Begay III Foundation to provide health and wellness education to Native youngsters in form of golf and soccer.
This year Begay has the help of his Stanford roommate and friend, Tiger Woods.
http://www.reznetnews.org/article/tiger-woods-joins-notah-begay-help-native-youth-38110