At the Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge, a skins game played for charity, Tiger Woods was the winner over Camilo Villegas, Mike Weir, and host Notah Begay. Woods won holes 15-17, and a total of $230,000.00 to overtake Villegas (200,000.00), Begay ($70,000.00) and Weir, who was shut out.
Begay, who is the only full-blooded Native American to play on the PGA Tour, started the foundation in 2005. It uses both golf and soccer to promote physical fitness and wellness among Native American youth, who are plagued by obesity and diabetes.
Woods and Begay were college roommates at Stanford, and Tiger was able to add another trophy to his collection by winning a piece of Pueblo Indian black pottery. Begay added a check of $750,000 for his foundation and was glad to have his friend attend the event.
“To have Tiger be a part of this is just a tremendous asset for the foundation and the event,” Begay said. “I think he enjoyed himself. He beat us, but I think we’ve kind of grown accustomed to that.”
Tiger, playing in the Barclays starting this Thursday, and who rarely plays in these type of events anymore, seemed more than happy to help his friend's foundation. “Today was incredible, to come here and bring awareness to what Notah is trying to do. It’s great to see what he’s doing, to put his heart, soul, and passion into something like this and bring this many people together to help them understand and educate the public. I’m just so proud of him as a friend. We’ve been through a lot together.”
photo by Kevin Rivoli /AP
