JUNIOR WORLD GOLF : Begay Soars With Eagles, Just as Quickly Returns

Notah Ryan Begay III, who finished the first round of the Optimist Junior World Championships’ 15-17 age division in second place at 68, one stroke behind the leader, eagled two holes during second-round play Wednesday at Torrey Pines South.

That would have boosted his chances of overtaking leader Travis Williams of Carlsbad had he not followed each eagle with a double bogey.

Two plus two equaled par. And as it turned out, Begay, of Albuquerque, is now two strokes behind Williams after finishing with a par 72 for a two-round total of 150.

Williams shot 71 and has a two-day score of 148.

It’s a little odd that the leaders followed strong first rounds with impressive seconds. At prior Junior Worlds, teen-age golfers who have started fast have often folded under the weight of their own early scores.

Not this time. Both golfers, it seems, have something to prove.

Williams just wants to show that he’s not the same lousy player who failed to make the cut here last year.

“I really wanted to concentrate on playing well,” Williams said.

Begay, on the other hand, is out for pride.

He is a full-blooded American Indian, half Navajo and half Pueblo.

“He does have added pressure on him because he is an American Indian,” said his father, Notah Ryan Begay Jr. “He is the hope of people not only in Albuquerque but across the country, who have heard of him and who also want him to be the best. And sometimes he carries a big load, but so far he has handled it well . . .

“You don’t find, especially from the Southwest, an American Indian, especially a Navajo-Pueblo, that plays golf. That’s unheard of.”

Unheard of because, well, golf is expensive. But Begay has had an advantage--he grew up across the street from the Ladera Golf Course in Albuquerque.

“He used to climb the fence to get in when he was 7, 8, 9 years old,” Begay’s father said.

Soon enough, Begay was washing carts at Ladera, a job that offered a little boy yearning to play the game some great fringe benefits, such as free greens fees and use of the driving range.

Now Begay doesn’t just play golf--he excels at it.

“He could probably pick up any sport and become the best at it just because of his determination,” his father said.

In fact, Begay has displayed deft skills in other sports. He was a two-year starting guard on the Albuquerque Academy High basketball team, which won the New Mexico state championship both years. He averaged 15 points, five rebounds and four assists per game as a senior, but he is most proud of his free-throw shooting accuracy: 81%.

Begay was also a three-year starting midfielder for the school’s soccer team, which last year finished third in the state and the two years before that was runner-up.

He played on the golf team, too, and just last month placed first in the All-America high school championships in Nashville. Oh yeah, along the way he picked up a golf scholarship to Stanford.

Success, Begay said, comes from hard work.

“Whatever season I’m in, I always stay after practice to work on my game,” Begay said.