Begay Drains Michelob Title

Notah Begay made up two strokes on two others over the last two holes in spectacular fashion Sunday, then won the Michelob Championship with a 4-foot par putt on the second hole of a playoff with Tom Byrum.

"I just want to know when they are going to schedule some more events in Virginia," Begay said. Last year, he shot a Nike Tour-record 59 in Richmond.

"Inexplicable, the emotions," he said. "I told my caddie on the second hole in the playoff I felt like I was suffocating with the rain and the cloud cover and the situation. There were a lot of things going through my head."

Begay, the only American Indian on the PGA Tour, won for the second time in his rookie season when Byrum drove left on the 427-yard 16th hole at Kingsmill, had to chip it back into the fairway and left his 15-foot par putt short.

Begay, whose drive was down the middle, left his approach just short, but chipped out of the deep, tangled rough to about 4 feet and made the putt, capping a comeback that started on the 71st hole with him trailing Byrum and Mike Weir.

Begay, two shots down heading to the par-3 17th, closed within one when he made a 40-foot birdie putt while Weir and Byrum both two-putted for pars.

On No. 18, Begay's drive stopped close to a lake on the left side of the fairway, but gave him a flat lie and perfect angle at the pin, set on a tier on the back right of the green. He again drew roars when he hit it to 20 feet.

Weir, whose drive was well right, had no choice but to lay up, then hit his approach to about 15 feet. Byrum's second shot, from a greenside bunker, went about 10 feet past the hole, giving him the shortest of the three putts.

Begay, who putts from both sides depending on the slope of the green, stood over his right-handed, rolled it, waited and pumped his fist as it dropped for a 68.

Weir, who had held or at least shared the lead throughout the final round, then missed his to the left, drawing groans from the gallery and ending his bid with a 70.

"I really let them in the tournament. I had a lot of chances unbelievable chances to distance myself and I didn't do it and they capitalized," Weir said.

"I hit it close all day, but I just couldn't buy one," the left-hander said after finishing third. "... I brought my `A' game and I brought my `D' putter."

Byrum, seeking his first victory since the 1989 Kemper Open and already assured a high enough finish to move him into the top 125 in earnings, read his putt from the behind the hole, on the right and behind the ball, then made it for a 68.

That sent both back to the 18th tee with 10-under 274 totals.

On the first playoff hole, Begay's drive came to rest on a sleep uphill slope that lef him no choice but to hit it back into play. He did, and after Byrum's second failed to hold the back tier of the green, Begay's shot did the same.

Byrum had a chance to ice it, but his first left-to-right effort up the hill reached the slope, rolled along the edge and back down near Begay's ball.

"I thought I took a fairly safe route," said Byrum, who earned $270,000 to Begay's $450,000. "I just didn't hit it hard enough."

Both then two-putted, sending them to the par-4 16th.

Fittingly, in a weekend when the deep rough and hard greens of the 6,853-yard River Course at Kingsmill made the event a battle of perseverance, Begay won despite four bogeys, including the one on the first hole of the playoff.

Barry Cheesman closed with a 67 and finished alone in fourth at 276, with Nick Faldo (67), Jay Don Blake (66) and Tom Scherrer (69) another shot back.

^Divots: Virginia native Lanny Wadkins, who won this event in 1990, was 3 over at the start of Sunday's final round, but shot a 7-under 64 to finish at 280. Wadkins started on the back and and was 1 under for the day, but closed with birdies on five of the last six holes.