Associated Press
Wednesday, October 4

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- The Michelob Championship proved something to Notah Begay III.

He already had one title on his resume when he rallied last year at Kingsmill Golf Club, closing with two straight birdies to force a playoff. He won on the second playoff hole, and he says the victory meant more to him than his breakthrough title.

	Notah Begay III finished at 10-under, then beat Tom Byrum on the second playoff hole to win at Kingsmill last year.

"You hear in the record industry of one-hit wonders," he said. "There's a lot of guys that have won one tournament and it was just their one week. To come out and win again just proved that I was competitive and could play at a high level at different times during the year."

Begay has won twice this season, at the St. Jude Classic in late June and a week later at the Greater Hartford Open. He has climbed to 16th on the money list with more than $1.7 million, and already achieved his No. 1 goal going into the season, a spot on the Presidents Cup team.

"When you win, you've got to try to keep pushing yourself to challenge yourself," he said. "I thought (the Presidents Cup) would be a great goal because I knew that I was going to have to win to accomplish that goal.

"I think the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup are probably the truest reflections of a golfer's consistency and their ability to win a golf tournament, and that's something I was always in the game for."

This tournament moved from midsummer to October three years ago and has now assumed an important role: It has become vital for players jockeying for position on the tour's various qualification money lists.

"There's a lot of good stories," said Curtis Strange, who lives in the Kingsmill community and is the host pro. The top 30 on the money list, for instance, earn spots in the Tour Championship, to be played Nov. 2-5.

"And there's the top 125, which is to me the true grinders because that's their livelihood," Strange said of the cutoff for players to retain their playing privileges for another year without having to requalify. "It's, `Are you going to be able to play golf on tour next year?' "

Scott Hoch, the wire-to-wire 1996 winner, arrives in 31st place on the money list, about $25,000 behind No. 30 David Toms. And Tom Byrum, who lost to Begay in the playoff a year ago, is clinging to 125th.

Begay returns to Kingsmill as a headliner along with David Duval, whose breakthrough title came at this event in 1997. Duval, who repeated a year later, won last week's Buick Challenge in his comeback from a long layoff.

"It's always good to come back to a place where you've had some success and played well," Begay said. "I've got good feelings here."