NB3 Foundation crowns champions: Founder Notah Begay III honored with Payne Stewart Award
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Notah Begay III (left) interviews Kezia Danner, the 16-18 winner of the NB3 Foundation Native Youth Golf Championship at Santa Ana Golf Club on Tuesday afternoon. Danner was one of eight champions crowned.
SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M.
One year ago, Kezia Danner had to play two extra holes to earn her way to the Skechers Notah Begay III Junior Golf Championship.
The Holbrook, Arizona teenager was forced to play in the tiebreaker playoff round with Dallas Dan of Kirtland, New Mexico at last year’s NB3 Foundation Native Golf Championship for a chance to play in the national tournament at Koasati Pines at Coushatta in Kinder, Louisiana.
On Tuesday afternoon, Danner didn’t need to go through a sudden death round as she hoisted the event title by carding a 157 during the two-day tournament at Santa Ana Golf Club, winning the 16-18 girls division.
“It feels really great,” Danner said of her title win. “I’m really happy about it. I’m glad that the hard work I put in this entire year has come to fruition.”
Danner was one of eight champions that will represent the NB3 Foundation at the national tournament in November. The nonprofit hosted 61 players – 42 boys and 19 girls – earlier this week for its seventh installment of the annual tournament.
“It’s a work in progress for us,” said Notah Begay III, the founder of the NB3 Foundation. “Our main intent is to create an opportunity for competitive elite Native junior golfers from across the country to have a place to come and showcase their abilities. The big attraction with our event here is that every winner in every age division goes to my NB3 Junior Golf National Championship, which has the nation’s best junior golfers.
“It’s a way to give our kids exposure to elite level competition at a national level,” he added.
Begay said there are 25 national qualifiers across the country with over 10,000 kids trying to qualify for his national junior golf tournament. At the conclusion of all the qualifiers, only 156 boys and 156 girls will compete at nationals.
The NBC Sports and Golf Channel commentator acknowledged that the qualifiers from his NB3 Foundation tournament have struggled at the national tournament.
“My belief is that if we keep exposing them to better competition, they’re going to get better,” Begay said. “It’s a long-range project, but we hope to keep investing in our young Native junior golfers so that in the near future they can win a national open junior golf event.”
Because of his work with the NB3 Foundation, Begay was named the 2026 Payne Stewart Award recipient. The four-time PGA TOUR winner will be honored on Tuesday, Aug. 25 at the Payne Stewart Award Ceremony in conjunction with the 2026 TOUR Championship in Atlanta, Georgia.
To read the full article, please see the July 23, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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