Notah Begay claims third tour title

Notah Begay's third PGA Tour victory was his first since made headlines for the wrong reasons.

His one-stroke win over Bob May and Chris DiMarco in the St. Jude Classic on today was Begay's first win since last October at the Michelob Championship. It was also his first victory since spending seven days in jail last March for a drunken driving conviction.

``After going through my personal ordeal earlier in the year, you never know if you're ever going to return back to form,'' Begay said. ``To be able to get back into contention for me was great ... especially when it was nip and tuck the last two, three holes is very refreshing and lets me know I'm back to playing good golf again.''

Begay found himself in trouble on the one hole he knew he needed to birdie if he wanted to win.

His second shot on the par-5, 528-yard 16th found the rough right of the green, about 20 yards from the hole. Begay pulled out his lob wedge and went right at the hole, landing the ball within 3 feet for his birdie attempt.

``I play to win, and that's the bottom line,'' said Begay, who survived a shootout that had five golfers within two strokes of his lead with four holes left. ``That was the only shot I had. I needed to make 4 or at least have a putt at 4. I wasn't into finishing in the top 10.''

Begay, who finished with a 13-under 271 total, said he needed the birdie on the easiest hole to allow him to play conservatively on the toughest two holes at the TPC at Southwind course.

May called Begay's chip ``world-class.''

``That's something you see (Phil) Mickelson hit. He didn't have much green to work with with it sloping away from him. I was looking up and I saw the ball land. I thought this thing needs to bite, and it did. The next bounce it stopped on a dime,'' May said.

``It would've been easy to go over the other side.''

May had led after the second and third rounds, but he lost his lead on the back nine Sunday with two straight bogeys. He finished with a 71 and was tied with DiMarco, who closed with a 69.

Pete Jordan (66), Russ Cochran (69) and Joe Ogilvie (70) all tied for fourth at 273.

With a field that featured none of the PGA Tour's top money-winners, Begay's experience as a two-time winner last year as a rookie made the difference.

Begay was right about the closing holes as he gave back one shot on the toughest hole, the par-4 17th, when he again hit right of the green. With the pin on the far left, he settled for a bogey.

May and DiMarco each had their chances to force a playoff on the final hole, the par-4 18th. DiMarco just missed a 25-footer right of the hole for a birdie a group ahead of May and Begay. May, whose putter deserted him on two short par attempts when he bogeyed Nos. 12 and 14, pushed his 8-foot birdie attempt just left.

``I thought if I made that putt, you never know what could happen,'' said May, who hung on for his best finish ever on tour after going through qualifying last year. ``Notah was playing pretty good. He probably would've made the putt if he had to, but it would've been nice to see what would've happened.''

Begay, who had hit a 6-iron to 5 feet of the hole, then two-putted to wrap up the $540,000 winner's check, the biggest of his career.

He had struggled through the early part of this year following his arrest Jan. 20 for drunken driving in Albuquerque, N.M.

The man who earned more than $1.2 million as a rookie last year finished tied for fourth at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February. But he had missed five cuts in his 10 tournaments since then. His best finish was a tie for 15th at the MCI Classic in April and he was 22nd in last week's U.S. Open.

Begay added his younger brother Clint as his caddie a month ago, and that has made a big difference. Begay said he's having much more fun with golf even though his brother doesn't help with yardages or read most putts.

DIVOTS: Begay, a Stanford teammate of Tiger Woods, became the 15th winner to come from behind on the final day on tour this year. He and Carlos Franco are the only rookies of 1999 to win in consecutive years. His 271 total was his lowest winning score in his three victories. ... Curtis Strange shot a final-round 1-under 71 as the first group out Sunday. Set to play by himself, he chose fellow ABC broadcaster Ian Baker-Finch as his non-competing marker.

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