ENDICOTT, NEW YORK - JUNE 26: Notah Begay III of the United States hits his tee on the second hole during the first round of the DICK'S Open 2026 at En-Joie Golf Club on June 26, 2026 in Endicott, New York. (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)

Getty Images

For the space of a few seconds, Notah Begay III was too stunned to even react.

During a full NBC rehearsal ahead of The Open Championship, Aaron Stewart, the son of the late golf great Payne Stewart, walked into the broadcast booth carrying the Payne Stewart Award trophy.

Begay had no idea what was about to happen next. He assumed Stewart and Southern Company CEO Chris Womack were there to film a promotional segment and didn’t bat an eye. But then Stewart stopped right in front of him and announced that he was the 2026 Payne Stewart Award recipient.

"If you watch the video, there is a long pause because my mind could not process everything that had transpired in my life that led up to this moment—from where I grew up, to my golf career, to deciding to make a lifelong investment in my Native community," Begay said.

"Here we are receiving the most prestigious community service award that the PGA Tour and Southern Company have...it's the highest honor that you can get."

The four-time PGA Tour winner and longtime golf broadcaster has dedicated much of his post-playing career to improving the lives of Native American youth through his NB3 Foundation.

Presented annually by Southern Company, the Payne Stewart Award honors a player whose impact on and off the course exemplifies Stewart’s enduring values of character, sportsmanship, and generosity. Previous winners include Paul Azinger, Brandt Snedeker and Justin Rose.

The Stanford Athletics Hall of Famer, who captained the Cardinal’s 1994 NCAA championship team, founded the NB3 Foundation in 2005. A member of the Navajo Nation with San Felipe and Isleta Pueblo heritage, Begay initially launched the organization as a golf program serving Native youth in the Albuquerque area before expanding it into a national nonprofit dedicated to improving the health and well-being of Native American youth, with a focus on combating childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes. Today, the foundation supports youth fitness and nutrition programs, invests in Native-led community initiatives, and advances research aimed at improving Indigenous health outcomes.

For Begay, the drive to build the NB3 Foundation was a natural extension of spending a lifetime in a sport where charitable giving is woven into its culture.. Begay believes the environment that’s been his life since he first started playing tournament golf, had a lot to do with his decision to want to give back.

“I think it’s critical to understand that Golf and PGA Tour have invested more money in non-profit work than all the other major sports combined. It’s a staggering statistic and it’s not even close. It’s in our DNA to give back to communities. Every single week we play a tournament we give millions of dollars back into that community.” According to the PGA Tour, tournaments across its tours have generated more than $4 billion for charitable organizations since their inception.

UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 22: Notah Begay III and Tiger Woods shake hands after the continuation of the second round of the Funai Classic held on the Palm and Magnolia courses at Walt Disney World Resort on Saturday, October 22, 2005. Woods missed the cut by two strokes. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Getty Images

But the culture of giving he found in golf wasn't his sole influence. Begay was also following in the footsteps of his father who shares his name. The elder Begay launched a Native American youth soccer program in Albuquerque in the early 1980s despite having no background in the sport.

"This is a man who never played soccer or even held a soccer ball. His interest came because there were a lot of Native kids in the Albuquerque area who needed an outlet. With zero knowledge about the sport, he put together a team that was competitive, and after two or three years we had five or six teams in the club.

"What it instilled in me was the fact that I needed to use sport to make an impact. I needed to use the things that were afforded me—my education, the opportunities through golf, and the people who stood alongside me and made these accomplishments possible. It only seemed like the logical path to return that investment back into the community that helped me get there."

As the foundation grew, Begay said he wanted its work to be guided by evidence rather than assumptions, even his own.

"I needed hard information. I wasn't going to do this based on speculation or what I thought was happening," he said. "We had Johns Hopkins come in and provide an objective evaluation, and that helped formulate the path moving forward."

That evidence-based approach has helped shape the foundation's growth and evolution.Over the past two decades, the NB3 Foundation has invested more than $10 million in Native communities and supported more than 85,000 Native youth.

Along with a striking trophy—a sculptural likeness of the award’s namesake wearing his trademark tam o'shanter cap—the recipient also receives a $500,000 charitable grant courtesy of Southern Company. Of those funds, $200,000 goes Stewart Family Foundation with the balance directed by the annual winner.

Begay III has earmarked $200,000 of the funds to the The NB3 Foundation, while directing $100,000 to the Albuquerque Community Foundation, which aids in promoting educational, healthcare and economic opportunities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and its surrounding communities.

It’s big week for the nonprofit which is also in the midst of hosting the 7th annual Native Youth Golf Championship, a three-day event for both girls and boys at New Santa Ana GC in New Mexico that wraps up on Tuesday. Age division winners qualify for the Sketchers Notah Begay III Junior Golf Championships in November.

On Aug 25th during the Tour Championship festivities, Golf Channel will televise the ceremony honoring Notah Begay during Golf Central from 7-8 p.m. ET.

While Begay is grateful for the recognition, he said his focus remains firmly on ensuring the NB3 Foundation outlives him.

"Success to me would mean that all this continues to move forward and prosper without me," he said. "This work has to live on past me. That's my goal over the next 10 to 20 years—to make sure, whether it's through an endowment or strategic planning, that this work survives when I'm gone."