Final round 67 for Notay Begay III earns him a PGA tour card while Alex Aragon will have non-exempt status on Nationwide Tour

Two Stanford graduates, Notah Begay III ('95), 4-time tour winner, and Alex Aragon ('01)competed in the PGA Tour's final stage of qualifying at PGA West in La Quinta, California.

Begay fired a 5-under 67 (the low round on the tougher PGA West Stadium course) to tie for 11th and earn his PGA Tour card once again. Showing a flare for the dramatic, Notah birdied 3 of his last 4 holes to move 2 shots under the cut line. His last two rounds of 63-67 (14-under par) were the best in the field of 163 players. Alex Aragon shot a final round 71 to tie for 87th place, leaving him with non-exempt status on the Nationwide Tour. PGA Tour story on Begay's qualifying tournament.

Final results can be found here.

PRIOR POSTING:
Notah's brilliant 63 in the next to last round (see Golf Week article) jumped him into contention as he is tied for 21st after rounds of 72-70-69-71-63 (-15). Begay plays on the tougher PGA West Stadium course in the final round and will likely need to shoot 69 or lower to gain one of the 25 exempt PGA tour spots.

Alex faces a much tougher challenge to make the low 25 but is in the hunt for an exempt spot on the Nationwide Tour earned by the next 50 qualifiers. Aragon sits tied for 89th at 8-under par after rounds of 71-67-74-72-68. He will likely need a 68 or better to make the Nationwide Tour or a 62 to make the PGA Tour in his final round.



A field of 163 players are competing for 25 exempt spots on the 2009 PGA Tour, with the next 50 players receiving full exempt membership on the Nationwide Tour. The remaining players will have conditional status on the Nationwide Tour. Begay is one of field's 20 players who have won a total of 48 events on the PGA Tour.

The final stage is held over 6 days and 108 holes and is considered the most grueling test in golf.

Aragon & Begay qualify for the PGA Tour's Final Stage

Notah Begay ('95) and Alex Aragon ('01) both move on to the final stage of the PGA Tour's qualifying school. Tour veteran Notah fired a blazing 65 last round that included an eagle and five birdies (he finished with birdies on 17 & 18) to finish tied for 8th at the PGA's 2nd stage qualifier in Lantana, Texas while Alex finishes tied for 3rd after a final round 69 at Beaumont, CA.

Notah , seemingly had little chance after three rounds which left him 6 shots off the cut line. But his tournament low 65 leapfrogged more than 30 players and allowed him to continue his quest to return to the PGA tour after rounds of 71-77-74-65. Notah has had a long injury plaqued battle to retain the greatness that was once his as a top 10 player and multiple winner in the golf world. Here's the full leaderboard for the Lantana qualifier.



Aragon had rounds of 65-69-74-69. He led after both the first two rounds and continued his steady play to easily move on to the final stage of qualifying for the first time in his career. A total of 19 players from his field moved on to the final stage qualifier. Here's the full leaderboard for the Beaumont qualifier.



Joel Kribel ('99) missed the qualifying cut by 3 strokes in an earlier second stage qualifier at Kingwood, TX after rounds of 75-72-69-71. Here are complete results from the Kingwood qualifier.

Notah Begay hosts skins game with Singh, Cink, Weir & Villegas

Stanford grad Notah Begay III ('95) hosts the inaugural Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge is expected to draw about 2,000 fans to Turning Stone Resort’s Atunyote course on Tuesday to watch a skins game between some of the PGA Tour’s top players.

Begay, the golf ambassador for the Turning Stone Resort Championship, has arranged the charity event to raise money and awareness for his Native American causes.

In addition to Begay, the field will feature two of the top-10 players in golf’s world rankings, Vijay Singh (5) and Stewart Cink (8), plus two more in the top 50, Mike Weir (38) and Camilo Villegas (42).

Here's a complete news release about the event: http://www.notah.com/press-room/in-the-news/206.

Rob Grube ties for 14th on the PGA Tour at the Reno-Tahoe Open

Recent graduate Rob Grube ('08), a 4-time All-American, completed play at his first PGA Tour event with a final round 68 to tie for 14th at the Reno-Tahoe Open played at the Montreux Golf & Country Club in Reno, Nevada. His 7-under 281 total earned Rob $48,000 in the event where he received a sponsor's exemption.

Here's the complete leaderboard for the tournament.

After beginning the tournament with a solid 2-under 70, Rob was struggling on his second round as he was 4-over for his round through 15 holes, 2 strokes above the cut line of even par. Grube made clutch birdies on the tough 16th and par five 17th holes, however, to finish his round of 74 barely making the cut line.

On the weekend, he shot rounds of 69 and a final round of 68 to finish strong, as he shot the lowest weekend total in the field (tied with one other player).

Notah Begay III ('95), former Stanford all-time great, who won the inaugural Reno-Tahoe event 10 years ago, finished tied for 53rd at even par 288 after shooting a final round 75. Here's a good article about Notah from the Reno Gazette-Journal after his third round of 70. The photograph from the Reno Gazette-Journal is taken by Tim Dunn/RGJ.

Notah Begay on Tiger's US Open Win

Michael Fornabaio, Connecticutt Post Online

Notah Begay III walked quickly up the hill from the 18th green Monday at the TPC at River Highlands. He was done with his practice round and had one thing on his mind.

"I want to watch the tournament," he told reporters. He quickly perched himself in the players' dining room and watched the end of the U.S. Open playoff, with some nerves and some body english and some smiles, as his old buddy Tiger Woods did what Tiger Woods usually does.

"My wife was giving me updates all day" by text message, Begay said after his Stanford teammate won out in San Diego, Calif., about 3,000 miles away. "She was on the computer. She kept telling me what was going on."

He grabbed a seat with a good view of the television as Woods and Rocco Mediate — who withdrew from the Travelers Championship later in the afternoon — came up the 17th fairway. So, he saw two complete holes, including Woods' victory on the 19th; he planned a Monday-night call to congratulate the champion.

See complete article: http://www.connpost.com/sports/ci_9607218

Tiger Woods -- "I'd do anything for that guy"

Neil Sagebiel
MNV



Another side of Tiger Woods at today’s U.S. Open media conference at Torrey Pines.

Q. Your friend Notah Begay is trying to make it back to the TOUR and is struggling with depression. He said you helped him a lot during that time. How did you help him and how did you see or what did you see in terms of his struggles?

TIGER WOODS: Well, Notah, he’s been hurt for such a long time. It’s been, what, six, eight years he’s been hurt. He hasn’t played pain-free until this year. So this is the first time he can actually hit a ball. Notah was in the top-10 driving distance when he first came out. He lost that ability to hit the ball that far.

See complete article

Begay returns to Europe after long-term back injury

Reuters By Norman Dabell

SANTO DA SERRA, Madeira (Reuters) - American Notah Begay returns to Europe in the hope of resurrecting his career this week after nearly a year out of action with back problems.

The four-times U.S. PGA Tour winner has passed up a chance of playing the Nationwide Tour, America's second-rated tour, to fly to Europe to take up a one-year medical exemption.

More - see Full Article