Tiger Woods In CNY: Class All The Way

The greeting at the door of Lava at Turningstone read “No Cameras.  No Cellphones”.  That took care of that.  A blog about this region’s most beautiful golf course, a buffet dinner that made Vegas look like cooking school and four of the most talented and ripped men alive, with no photos.  Sorry about that.

I don’t golf, but I recognize the sport as perhaps the most dignified on the planet.  It’s well-mannered and gentlemanly, even among women.  The rules are serious.  If Tiger Woods can be fined for questioning the call of a PGA official as he was a couple of weeks ago, a lot worse things can happen to me for trying to sneak a photo of the players.

In golf, spectators are quiet.  Players are respectful.  Fist pumps don’t come at the expense of other players, but at the course itself.  Who could deny a man the joy of victory over a path of crazy perfect grass?

For the third year in a row I am pinching myself for my good fortune at being named a member of the Empowerment Fund of the PGA event at Turningstone.  Twenty Central New Yorkers who represent politics and government, business, athletics and media, serve at the pleasure of Oneida Nation C.E.O. Ray Halbritter, who also happens to be my business hero.   You can’t be in his presence for five minutes and not realize the man has something.  My fellow committee members, all impressive in their own right, speak of Ray in the same universal way.  The Empowerment Fund is the charity arm of the PGA event at Turningstone and in just the first two years, the Oneidas turned over nearly $800,000.00 in ticket proceeds to various Central New York charities.

Ray summoned all his skills, smarts and connections to land Tiger Woods for a game of golf today at the stunningly beautiful Atunyote course.  Everywhere you walked, the talk was about Tiger.

But in fairness, today was really about a lesser known pro golfer named Notah Begay III, another quality guy with an economics degree from Stanford University and the only full-blooded native American on the tour.  Notah has a Foundation dedicated to helping Native children through golf and soccer, and a longtime friendship with Tiger Woods,  one that precedes their famous roommate assignment at Stanford.  In a question and answer session at the reception at Lava last night, Tiger said of Notah  “He took care of me and he didn’t take care of me.  I killed a lot of brain cells”, which provoked laughter from the invitation-only 300 in attendance.  Did the best athlete in all the world and the greatest gentleman and role model too just suggest he smoked weed?  No!  Tell us you wore the same socks for two days in row why don’t you?  And now stick a fork in our eyes.

In typical pro golf fashion, the four players: Tiger, Notah, Mike Weir and Camilo Villegas all spoke of how impressed they are that Notah has this cause and it’s a pleasure to assist him at Turningstone.  For his part, Tiger said, “anything Notah needs, and I’m there”.  Quite a promise from the person most in demand in all the world since Princess Diana.

After the intimate gathering at Lava last night today’s skins game seemed anti-climatic except for the 3000 fans who stood ten and fifteen deep at each hole, and the media that was finally granted access.  At one point, my son Harry and I stood within eight feet of the players because we skipped ahead two holes and secured a spot at the rope at the fifth tee.

The four players collectively earned one million dollars for the Notah Begay III Foundation.  I’ll bet no one was more grateful than Ray Halbritter who envisioned top notch play on his golf course rolled from native land, where wetlands met limos and pampas grass sprouted bronze sculpture, and where a perfect late summer day saw four talented classy men turn the most accomplished Central New Yorkers into star-struck 12 year olds.

Tagged as: Notah Begay, PGA, Ray Halbritter, Tiger Woods, Turningstone