NB3 Challenge

Players Field

PGA

 

Notah Begay III

PGA TOUR PROFESSIONAL

Notah Begay III showed a passion for the game of golf at an early age, becoming a mainstay at his local course and working there in exchange for the opportunity to play. His hard work paid off, as he secured a golf scholarship to Stanford University. During his collegiate career, Begay was named an All-American three times and lead the Cardinal to the National Championship in 1994, later befriending a freshman golfer named Tiger Woods.

Since turning pro in 1995, Begay has battled through back injuries to win four tournaments on the PGA TOUR. During his professional career, he also became just the third player in men’s professional golf history to shoot a single-round score of 59 in a professional event.

Begay has put his success to good work, starting the Notah Begay III Foundation in 2005, with the mission of positively impacting the Native American community. The Foundation’s work is something very personal to Begay, who is the only full-blooded Native American on the PGA TOUR.

Begay was named one of Golf Magazine’s Innovators of the Year in 2009 and has also been named one of the Top 100 Sports Educators in the world by the Institute for International Sport. When he’s not playing on tour or working with his Foundation, Begay also contributes commentary to the Golf Channel. 
 

Rickie Fowler

PGA TOUR PROFESSIONAL

Rickie Fowler came to professional golf with impressive credentials: he set the course record on his home course as a 14-year-old, he was the country’s top-ranked amateur player for 36 weeks in 2007 and 2008 and he was the first freshman to ever win the NCAA’s Player of the Year award during his time at Oklahoma State.

Any questions about how Fowler’s game would translate to the highest level were quickly quashed after he took home the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honor following the 2010 season. During his inaugural season on tour, Fowler competed for several titles, finishing at the top of the leader board in a collection of tournaments. He finished the 2010 season 22nd on the PGA TOUR money list. In addition to his Rookie of the Year award, Fowler was recognized by U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, who selected Fowler with one of his captain’s picks for the team.

Fowler has his own connections to the Native American community. He is one-quarter Navajo, making him one of a small number of professional golfers with Native American heritage. 

In 2011, Fowler finished T-5 in the British Open Championship.
 

Tiger Woods

PGA TOUR PROFESSIONAL

Since turning pro in 1996, Tiger Woods has captivated the sports world with his prodigious play. Prior to his professional years, Tiger played at Stanford University, where his roommate was none other than Notah Begay III. The collegiate teammates have stayed in close contact during the past 15 years.

Since his first PGA tournament in 1996 – the Greater Milwaukee Open – Woods has launched an assault on the greatest records in professional golf.  He currently holds fourteen professional major golf championships, the second-highest total in the history of the men’s game, and his 71 PGA TOUR victories ranks third all-time. He has more career major wins and career PGA TOUR wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career win Grand Slam and holds or shares the tournament scoring record at three of golf’s major tournaments – he is the lone record-holder at the Masters and the Open Championship, and shares the record at the PGA Championship.

He has been awarded the PGA Player of the Year a record 10 times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average nine times and holds the record of leading the money list in nine different seasons.
 

HUNTER MAHAN

PGA TOUR PROFESSIONAL

Hunter Mahan is one of the most exciting young talents in American golf today. His arrival among golf’s elite has been much anticipated, following a stellar amateur career. His first appearance on the national scene came in 1999, when he won the United States Golf Association Junior Championship.

 As a collegiate golfer, Mahan was an All-American all three years he played, won two Big-12 Player of the Year awards and, in 2003, won the Jack Nicklaus Award, the Fred Haskins Award and was the co-recipient of the Ben Hogan Award. The season culminated with Mahan ranked as the No. 1 amateur in the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings.

Since earning his first tour card in 2004, making him the second youngest golfer on tour at the time, Mahan has steadily risen to the top of the professional golf world. In 2007, he won his first PGA Tournament and assembled a series of strong finishes in major tournaments. Last season, 2010, was the strongest of his career, as Mahan won two tournaments and finished seventh on the PGA TOUR money list. He is currently rank No. 20 in the World Golf Rankings.
 

SUZANN PETTERSEN

LPGA PROFESSIONAL

Since she began playing in golf tournaments as a 6-year-old in her native Norway, Suzann Pettersen has shown that she is a premier golf talent. By the time she was 19, she had won five consecutive Norwegian Amateur Championships (1996-2000), the British Girls Championship and the World Amateur Championship.

Pettersen turned pro in 2000 and went on to win her first professional tournament in June 2001. The whirlwind season ended with Pettersen earning the Ladies European Tour (LET) Rookie of the Year honor. Since, Pettersen has won four LET tournaments.

In addition to her success in Europe, Pettersen has performed exceptionally well on the LPGA TOUR, winning seven events, including four – one of which was the LPGA Championship – during an incredible 2007 season. Her success that season elevated her all the way to No. 2 in the Women’s World Golf Rankings.

In 2011, Pettersen won the Sybase Match Play Championship.

Since that time, Pettersen has continued to be one of the strongest women’s golfer’s in the world. She is currently ranked No. 3 in the Women’s World Golf Rankings. 
 

Cristie KERR

LPGA PROFESSIONAL

Cristie Kerr has been on a path to golf stardom since an early age and has fulfilled that potential with success at every level at which she’s competed. It began during her elementary school days – she was a two-handicap by the time she was 12.

In high school, Kerr won three consecutive Florida State Junior Girls Championships (1993-95) and was named the American Junior Golf Association Player of the Year in 1995. The award was not only the result of defeating fellow juniors – Kerr also won the Women’s Western Amateur and the Florida State Women’s Championship that year. The following year, she posted the lowest score of any amateur at the 1996 U.S. Women’s Open.

Kerr’s run of success in the professional game began with her first LPGA victory in 2002, followed by a string of successful seasons in 2004 (three wins), 2005 (two wins, eight top-three finishes), 2006 (three wins) and 2007, when she won the U.S. Women’s Open, eleven years after an impressive finish in the tournament as an amateur. So far she has had 14 tour victories.

In 2010, Kerr won the LPGA Championship by a record 12 strokes and reached No. 1 in the world rankings. She is currently ranked No. 2 in the world.

Cristie Kerr has the 5th all time highest career earnings in the LPGA and has represented the US Solheim Cup team 5 times.
 

ANNIKA SORENSTAM

FORMER LPGA PROFESSIONAL

When Annika Sorenstam retired from professional golf following the 2008 season, she left the game as arguably the greatest female golfer in the game’s history, owning a collection of records accumulated during more than a decade of extraordinary play on the LPGA TOUR.

Originally from Bro, Sweden, Sorenstam’s success in professional golf began in 1993, where she was named the Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year. She would win the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year honor just a year later. Though already known as a rising star in the women’s game, Sorenstam made her grand entrance into the top-tier of the sport in 1995 when she scored her first LPGA victory at the U.S. Women’s Open. From there, she would go on to win 72 LPGA tournaments, including 10 major tournament titles. In 2001, Sorenstam shot the lowest single-round score by any female in tournament play when she finished 18 holes in just 59 strokes.

During her storied career, Sorenstam won eight Player of the Year Awards in an eleven-year span, six Vare Trophies for lowest scoring average on the LPGA TOUR and three-straight Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year awards (2003-05). Sorenstam was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003 as the all-time leader on the LPGA career money list.

NATALIE GULbIS

LPGA PROFESSIONAL

Natalie Gulbis has known how to play winning golf almost her entire life. Gulbis won her first tournament when she was seven, and was breaking par by the time she was in fourth grade. By the time she reached high school, she had played in an LPGA TOUR event as an amateur.

During her high school career, Gulbis played on the boy’s golf team and was the top player on the roster. She accepted a golf scholarship to the University of Arizona, where she teamed up with fellow freshman Lorena Ochoa to help the Wildcats capture the national championship in 2000. After just one season of collegiate golf, Gulbis turned pro in 2001.

Gulbis began to fully realize her young potential in 2005, when she finished sixth on the LPGA TOUR money list and began a streak of four consecutive top 10 finishes in major tournaments at the 2005 LPGA Championship, a streak that stretched into the 2006 season. The following year, Gulbis won her first professional tournament, the Evian Masters.