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(Opposite page) The Stanford 1995 Stanford Golf Team: Tiger Woods, Notah Begay, Steve Burdick, Will Yanigisawa and Casey Martin

named because team mem- ber Conrad Ray’s father worked for Hormel, the company that produces the famous canned, precooked meat product. Ray’s father donated Spam T-shirts, and the team wore them in their IM games during the wintertime of 1994-95. It was, really, just a silly team name, as if to em- phasize how unthreatening their team was in the week- night games at Stanford’s on-campus Arrillaga Sports Center. Actually, there were

some players. Notah Begay had been on two state championship basketball teams at Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico, and he played like it. Steve Burdick was an all-around athlete who didn’t embar- rass himself on the court. And Casey Martin, despite a disabled right leg, hung around on the perimeter occasionally to exhibit his specialty—conscience-free shooting from the twenty- to twenty-fi ve-foot range. When Martin’s leg got too painful, he’d retreat to the sidelines to “coach” the team. “Coaching” the team meant heckling student offi cials during the game, exhorting his teammates to shoot more, and giving his extra-special free throw ad- vice when a teammate was on the charity stripe: “Flex your knees! Follow through! These are tap-ins!” With the college golf

season on hiatus from the fall to the spring—Stan- ford’s appearance at Hilton Head in November was the team’s fi nal tournament until a February date in Hawaii started the spring

season—the team used the downtime to hang out to- gether, enjoy each other, and have some laughs playing basketball. For Notah Begay and

Casey Martin, the time was especially precious. The two fi fth-year seniors were entering their fi nal stretch together, after arriving on the Stanford campus jointly in the fall of 1990 toting wildly different background stories—and a common desire to make something of their time at a university they consid- ered a privilege to attend. Notah and Casey, Casey and Notah. . .their names were almost interchange- able around the Stanford golf offi ces; they were close compadres who viewed the world differently but would defend each other to the end, unlikely friends who embraced different value systems but shared a bond in lifting Wally Goodwin’s program to the deliri- ously happy air of a national championship, fi nding a lasting friendship along the way.

The spring of 1995 was a sentimental time for Be- gay and Martin, as gradu- ation would cast them out into the world, and out of the safe cocoon of Stanford and the golf team. It would be a sentimental time for Goodwin, too, who consid- ered Begay and Martin to be his two most important recruits ever, and the two most unusual. If Goodwin’s control-

ling philosophy in recruit- ing was to fi nd players who moved him in some way, he was never more moved than by the stories of these

Q&A WITH AUTHOR BRIAN MURPHY

Q: Where did the idea for the book come from?

BRIAN MURPHY: I was

both intrigued (Tiger in college!) and skeptical (college golf?). But the storylines proved too rich to pass up, even beyond Tiger’s obvious attraction. It just goes to show you how many good stories lurk out there beyond the everyday headlines.

Q: What was the biggest challenge?

MURPHY: It was sort of like being a detective, at times, trying to fi gure out who birdied what and when—especially in the fi nal moments of the book, when the showdown came to a head. Amazingly, ESPN’s footage went off the air before the championship was decided. There were just too many weather de- lays, and ESPN had other programming issues, so our videotape evidence cut off well before the thrilling fi nal act. Doing as much research as pos- sible into those fi nal few holes was the biggest, and most fun, challenge of them of all.

Q: Did Tiger participate in the project? If not, why not?

MURPHY: The writing of this book, of course, took place well before the late 2009 scandal that prompted Tiger’s leave from golf. When we

were writing it, he was at the peak of his powers and winning majors and available to the media at golf events. However, having covered Tiger for years, I had a feeling he would take the tack he always takes on projects about his life—to not participate. His thirst for privacy and his previously well-protected image has had him saying “No” to projects like ours all his life. We thought we’d have a chance to get him to participate because of the topic. He frequently states how his time at Stanford was among the most enjoyable periods of his life, and we thought perhaps his desire to help out his alma mater and the unique nature of the story would lend him to participate. Alas, he held true to form, and his agent, Mark Steinberg, wished us well with the project and said “No thanks” at every persis- tent request. We do know he had interest in the project, as other members of the Stanford team told us he asked about it on occasion.

Q: How did the scandal surrounding Woods impact the project?

MURPHY: Oh, boy. What a thing. The scandal broke after the book had been sent to the printers, so there was little in the way of turning back. And at its essence, Tiger’s role in this book had little or nothing to do with his fall from grace in late 2009. Our book is, fi rst and foremost, an ensemble tale about many inter- secting storylines. It so happens that one of the sexiest is the role of the most famous teenage golfer ever. Our book isn’t about Tiger the husband, it’s about Tiger the golfer, Tiger the teenager, Tiger the freshman. So, we felt confi dent it would still hold appeal to many readers interested in golf, sports and Tiger’s history.

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