Golf Central

On this day in 1999, Notah Begay III clinched the second title of his rookie season by claiming the scalp of Tom Byrum in a playoff to win the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill. He closed out his round with two birdies before a par at the second extra hole gave him the victory.

The only full-blooded American Indian ever to play on Tour, Notah is of Navajo/Pueblo descent and was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He turned pro in 1995 and has four PGA wins with two victories in each of his first two seasons before an unfortunate back injury slowed him down.

Begay has been arrested twice for driving under the influence of firewater, with the second incident involving a crash into a parked car outside a strip club which lead to a week in jail and a year's suspended sentence. Luckily for III, America doesn't put its celebrities in jail and he spent his week at his President's Pleasure playing golf. In happier memories, Notah is one of only very few pro's to have shot a 59 in a tournament.

In only slightly more existential news, Namco released Pacman into arcades on this day in 1979. The yellow fellow's pill-munching antics won him global acclaim and millions of dollars which he then squandered on drugs, women and plastic surgery. He now lives in Missouri and cuts hair for a living, boring customers to tears with his tall tales of ghosts and cherries.

And it's Sri Ramendra Chandra Deva Sharma Bhattacharya! as they say in Bengal, to midas-like rower Sir Matthew Pinsent (37), quarterback Brett Favre (b.1969), offside-trap and alcohol fan Tony Adams (b.1966), philanthopic second-fiddle Midge Ure (b.1953) and skater Bob Burnquist (b.1976).