By Colman McCarthy
Special to The Washingtonpost Staff
Friday, May 28, 1999; Page D13

On Wednesday morning when PGA touring pros were immersed in the inclusive, inbred world of golf at the Kemper Open, one of them had his mind on the larger world, the one of politics and social justice. Notah Begay III, midway through his first year on the tour in which he has made the cut eight out of 13 tournaments, was testifying before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

A member of the Navajo Nation and the only full-blooded Native American ever to play on the PGA Tour, Begay, 26, was warmly welcomed by the committee chairman, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.).

Before Begay, who withdrew from the Kemper because of fatigue, began his testimony – he spoke crisply, with no text, notes or hesitation – Campbell, a Cheyenne, asked if he knew Rod Curl, a former tour player and an Indian. Yes, Begay answered, he had seen Curl just the week before in Fort Worth at the Colonial Invitational. Curl won it in 1974, his lone tour victory.

The purpose of the oversight hearing was to gather information about successful programs for Indian youth. Other witnesses included a student leader from Minnesota's Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and an official from the United National Indian Tribal Youth Program in Oklahoma. All recited the facts of poverty in Indian Country: high unemployment, drug addiction, suicide and school dropouts.

Begay, the second of five children in a Catholic Albuquerque family and whose name in Navajo means "almost there," told of his own early struggles to get a start in golf, a sport all but foreign to Indian children. His father, a Bureau of Indian Affairs employee who played in a twilight league, introduced Notah to the game.

"At age six," Begay told the Senate committee, "I fell in love with golf. I would save up money to buy practice balls. But soon my urge to practice exceeded my piggy bank. One evening I waited in the parking lot at a local public course to wait to talk to the head pro."

Begay asked for a job – not for pay but for free play. Sure, the pro said. Soon Begay was at the course at 5 a.m., doing anything that was asked and then playing until he dropped in the afternoon and evening.

At 9 and 10, he began winning statewide junior tournaments. At 14, he won an international junior tournament. At 17, he was ranked as the nation's No. 1 junior. No. 2 was Tiger Woods. When the Stanford University golf coach came to look at the Navajo star, he saw Begay in action only in his other best sport, basketball. He noticed a kid possessed with a stunning desire to give full effort, a player who dived for any loose ball. Without ever seeing Begay hit a golf shot, the coach offered a full four-year golf scholarship. Begay became a three-time all-American, and in the 1994 NCAA championship shot a 62, the lowest score in the tournament's history. Unlike Woods, his Stanford teammate, Begay stayed in school to earn his degree in one of the university's toughest majors, economics.

After the Senate hearing and over lunch, Begay said that education was his "primary focus" at Stanford. During his third year in high school at the Albuquerque Academy, he recalled, "I gave a talk to a group of kids. I saw that I had a positive influence on them, and they kind of listened to what I had to say just based on what little amount of success I had had until then in golf. I realized then that I needed to get my college degree. I felt it would be hypocritical of me to give talks to Indian kids about the need for an education – staying in school and getting good grades – if I myself didn't do it. I knew it was going to be difficult, because I chose a difficult school. At the same time, if I did in fact achieve my degree I could go back and tell Indian kids, 'If I can do it, you can do it.'‚"

While posing for a photograph with Campbell, Begay spoke of the Native American Sports Council. A new program, it received nearly $250,000 from the U.S. Golf Association and some $500,000 worth of equipment from Nike. Seven golf programs in and around tribal reservations are operating, with the goal of recruiting Indian youth not only to the game but to job opportunities in the sport.

Begay played a restful 18 holes Wednesday afternoon at the Chevy Chase Club. On the second hole, a 429-yard par 4 to whose green he lofted an easy 9 iron, Begay talked about golf and Indians: "If I were a basketball player, I'd be in the NBA. Every kid in Indian Country would know of me. But because I play golf – and golf isn't all that known on the reservations – they didn't know who I am. So I need to achieve that much more. They need to see me in magazines and on television in order for them to identify with me as an Indian and achieving success on the professional level."

Begay, whose mother works in the juvenile justice system for the state of New Mexico, is in the tradition of Arthur Ashe in tennis, Jackie Robinson in baseball and Tarzan Brown in marathon running: Each was a minority member, each was a long shot in a mostly all-white sport, each brought uncounted followers onto playing fields once barriered by racial and class distinction.

If raw desire is the intangible that makes the difference in doing well on the PGA Tour, Begay's time – and his ascent – is coming.