Notah Begay III has been one of Tiger Woods’ closest friends since their time together at Stanford University.
Woods went on to win everything there is to win in the game, with 82 PGA Tour titles including 15 major championships to his name.
Whilst Begay was nowhere near even getting close to those numbers, he did enjoy a successful career himself, with four PGA Tour victories.
Woods is close to being eligible to play on the PGA Tour Champions, with his 50th birthday just around the corner.
And all the talk about the man who many regard as the greatest golfer of all time is currently revolving around what the future holds for him.
Tiger recently underwent disc replacement surgery – the sixth back procedure of his career. The third back surgery he underwent back in 2017 came just two years before he incredibly won The Masters for the fifth time.
Tiger Woods shocked Notah Begay two years before the 2019 Masters
Notah Begay appeared on Trey Wingo’s ‘Straight Facts Homie Podcast’ to discuss what may lie in store for his good friend in the near future.
Begay responded when asked by Wingo whether he believes Tiger will be an active participant on the PGA Tour Champions next season.
He said: “I don’t know about active, but I think he’s going to try it.
“You can only sit in your house and think about golf and hit balls at the range for so long when you want to actually go out and see if you can beat somebody.
“The level of competition, I’ve been out there for two years so far, is extremely high, the players work very hard and they’re putting up some incredible scores.
“I mean, I have walked out of there feeling like I’ve played some high quality golf and I’ve finished 15th and lost by 10.
“The thing that Tiger possesses which I don’t possess is that he can still carry the ball 285. Out on the Champions Tour, that’s a huge, huge asset.
“Anybody who’s finishing inside the top 10 in the Charles Schwab Cup points is carrying the ball over 280, there’s a huge distance advantage out there.
“But I do think he will try it and I hope he likes it because the world of golf with Tiger is so much better, so much more fun, even if we just see little glimpses of him from time to time.“
Considering the fact that Woods has achieved so much in the game, his presence on the senior circuit would be an astronomical boost for the PGA Tour Champions.
Tiger Woods shocked Notah Begay two years before the 2019 Masters
Tiger Woods winning The Masters after such an invasive back operation was such an amazing example of just how strong he was mentally.
Begay shared an example of just how much pain Woods was in after his back surgery in 2017, just two years before he won The Masters for the fifth time.
“Yeah, we were in the house and it was time for him to go pick Charlie up from school and he said ‘do you mind driving me?’, and I said ‘I don’t mind at all’.
“He physically couldn’t get himself out of the chair. It was mixed emotions for me at that point. I was looking at my dear friend who I care about so much but also I was looking at one of the greatest athletes in history who couldn’t get out of a sitting chair.
“So it was sadness on one point, compassion on the other but also not wanting to show those things because I knew he believed he could win again.
“Tiger’s biggest strength was how he approached the game mentally, that was his superpower.
“I got him out of the chair, his weight was on me, I had to help him get into the car and I laid the passenger seat back.
“To go from that to winning The Masters. That’s why I won’t say he won’t win 83, I can’t. I’ve seen too many crazy things from him.“
That is a truly incredible story and it’s one that, as Begay said, proves Tiger Woods should never be written off.
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