The best Tiger Woods shot you’ve never heard about? Here’s a candidate

Notah Begay is accustomed to being requested about Tiger Woods, his longtime good friend and Stanford teammate.

At this week’s PGA Tour Champions occasion, in Naples, Fla., Begay was again at it, dutifully taking part in the function of Tiger whisperer. Sure, when he met with the assembled media at Tiburon Golf Club, Begay fielded loads of queries about his personal sport — he’s been sharpening his expertise at mini-tour occasions in Mexico, his major aim for the Champions season is to keep up his taking part in standing, he’ll proceed to squeeze in as a lot TV work as his schedule permits — however inevitably the Tiger questions got here. They virtually all the time do.

In you case you missed it, Begay’s outdated pal is again in motion on the PGA Tour this week, on the Genesis Invitational, marking Woods’ first official Tour begin (non-major division!) for the reason that fall of 2020. It’s a loaded discipline at Riviera, however when Woods’ week kicks off in earnest at 12:04 p.m. native time Thursday (with some guys named Rory and Justin tagging alongside for the experience), nearly all eyes will fall on the hobbled 15-time main winner.

How’s his swing? His stroke? His gait? His temper? His sneakers? His tooth? Can he compete? Like, compete compete?

By Woods’ personal admission, his pinned-together proper ankle continues to be a vital drawback space for him, however he additionally asserted Tuesday: “I would not have put myself out here if I didn’t think I could beat these guys and win the event. That’s my mentality. If I wasn’t ready to win at this level — I am very rusty, but I’ve come off a rusty situation before and I’ve done well, and I’ve had to utilize a lot of those tactics in practice in buildup.”

Woods is hard to learn. That’s by design, in fact. The best card gamers never tip their fingers. Begay, however, tends to be extra forthcoming about his pal’s progress. His expectations for Woods at Riv?

“I think a successful week for him [would] to be to complete 36 holes somewhat comfortably on that leg,” Begay stated Wednesday. “If he’s able to make that cut, I think that’s a huge bonus, but just to sort of see where the stability is at.”

Begay stated the final time he and Woods spent high quality time collectively was at Begay’s personal occasion — the Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship — in Orlando late final yr, the place Tiger’s son Charlie was within the discipline. “He wasn’t playing but was watching his son, so we had a lot of chance to just talk about some of the physical challenges, what his strategies were to address some deficiencies in stability, movement and strength, and we’re three months removed from that, so he’s had 60 to 90 days to implement that strategy,” Begay stated. “He looked good moving yesterday, and now it’s just a matter of how much endurance does he have in the leg to sort of sustain 72 holes plus a pro-am?”

That’s the million-dollar query, or if you wish to be actually optimistic, the $3.6 million greenback query (that’s the whopping winner’s share at this, the third designated occasion of the calendar yr). The odds aren’t in Woods’ favor. He’s out of shape. He has a poor (by his requirements) observe report at Riviera. Heck, given the state of Woods decrease physique, merely having to navigate the steep descent from the primary tee to the golf green by itself appears like trigger for concern. But Begay additionally is aware of one thing else about his good friend: he’s a miracle employee.

“I know that at any given moment, something special could just break open,” he stated. “I’ve seen it so many times. Some of the best shots that I’ve seen from Tiger Woods was in rounds that it was just him and I out there, and I looked at it and how he did it, and I’m like, nobody else could do those sorts of things.”

A reporter requested Begay if he may recall a kind of photographs. Begay, reward be, may.

“We were playing at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes and he had a half buried lie in a fairway bunker that I thought he was only going to be able to advance about 200 yards. He took a 2-iron out, and it was like the hand of God smacked the back of this ball because he flew it on the front edge about 236. I went over and I looked at the divot, and I just was like, nobody else could have done that with the skill and the power and the accuracy. I think he went up and made the putt, which made me even more mad because I lost the hole.”

Alas, one other inimitable Tiger second. Maybe he has yet one more in retailer for us this week.

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s government editor, Bastable is liable for the editorial path and voice of one of many sport’s most revered and extremely trafficked information and repair websites. He wears many hats — enhancing, writing, ideating, growing, daydreaming of at some point breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely proficient and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Before grabbing the reins at GOLF.com, he was the options editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey along with his spouse and foursome of children.