THE RYDER CUP MATCHES MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 3, 2004

Hal Sutton

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Thank you all for being here. I'm excited to be here. Eight months went by fast, watching the great players. I'm excited. I was at Oakland Hills yesterday. I played 27 holes there. It's in great shape. I'm a little bit tired because we started early, we finished late and then I flew five hours to get here. But anyway, the venue is set. The tents are up. I could feel it in the air. I'm sure we've got a lot of questions about who is playing and who will not. Getting more excited as it gets closer. I've said all along, I could talk all day long about it, so let's cut the small talk out and move on.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I like the United States chances. I'm not a bookmaker and I would not know anywhere close to what the odds are, but I think the U.S. team is going to be outstanding.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: He said that about?

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: You know, that's his opinion. He's entitled to his opinion. My opinion is I think we're the favorite.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, the home-field advantage didn't just start this year. I mean, they have played Oakland Hills before in major championships. There have been some guys playing Oakland Hills already this year. There's a lot of things that we talk about when we talk about home-field advantage. Having been a player with four teams, I played two in Europe and I played two over here and walked over to the first tee, it's pretty evident without even knowing the golf course that you're in your home turf. People are excited about it. You hear your alma mater, you see your American flag. You know, it's pretty evident to me that we are on home turf. I think that's a big part of it. I think that's always been a big part of it. You know, we watched many years of history there and different captains talking about it. It's harder to play when you're on your home turf.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: There's no substitute for guys playing really well, currently. There are other ingredients that factor into it, and how well they mix with the team; what are we missing from the team that I can add to it through a pick; how their game is suited to a particular golf course we are playing. You know Oakland Hills, I played it a lot. I wouldn't know the statistic of this, but I think it would be hard for a player that's actually trying to play to play the current golf course as much as I have played it in the last year and a half. Oakland Hills requires a lot of things. It requires restraint; that's one thing, so that I'm going to be looking at people that manage their game very well, because there are many places that you cannot open up at Oakland Hills. So I guess what I'm telling you is, is power is not necessarily everything at Oakland Hills.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I told Kerry Haigh in the beginning that I didn't really want anything to do with the setup because I didn't want any responsibility of that, and that they do a great job of setting major championships up and to set it up just like a major championship. One of the things, I think there is a limit as to what the speed of the greens can be at Oakland Hills. And I think Kerry is a sensible person and has done a tremendous job in the past and I would expect him to do the same again and he's well aware of that. He was there yesterday and we briefly talked. The only thing that's been done at Oakland Hills that I think will be noticeable to everybody is there has been a tee built on the sixth hole where the big hitters can actually drive the green. It's the shortest par 4 anyway. The tee is probably only 20, 25 yards up. So -- I mean, I kind of hit -- I played it twice. The first time around, I didn't even play that tee; I played the back tee. The second time around, I said, well, I need to play that tee to see if I can get it close to the green. I hit the bottom of the club and I was about 17 or 18 yards short of the green. I hit it solid but it wasn't my best. So in other words, a big hitter, there was no wind. A big hitter will be able to hit that. I would say it's about a 310-yard carry, probably. It's uphill now.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: No. I mean, I'm not making it sound like a 94-pound weakling. What I'm making it sound like is it's going to take management to play this golf course. There are some lay-up holes on this golf course. With the way the golf ball is going now, it's not the monster that it used to be. You know, from the middle of the back tee the other day, I hit driver, 5-iron on 18th green and it was chillish. It wasn't -- it's just not what I remembered it being in terms of that. I will tell you what is a total fact is the greens are everything that I remember it being. And I will tell y'all that it will take a good iron player to player Oakland Hills well, because he's going to have to manage his ball in the right spot on the green. You can't be a great putter if you putt from the wrong spot at Oakland Hills, you just cannot be that.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I guess if you allow yourself to look at it that way. Tiger Woods says it best: You play to win. You know, that's what the U.S. Ryder Cup Team is going to do, we are going to play to win. I'm not going to look for every reason why we might fail, and I'm not going to figure a way I should feel more pressure because of this or whatever else. We go there with a common goal. This team will go there with a common goal. We're going to keep our eyes focused on that.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, the only way I'm going to putt this is in '99, Ben had no choice. Given the choice, I have no idea what Ben would have done. Curtis had to make a choice because the circumstances were completely different. So, that's my response to that.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, the biggest thing I remember is not being able to get out of bed that morning because I hurt so bad because I played so much. All my matches went to the 18th hole, almost every one of them. I think we ended one match on 16 and the rest of them were 17 or 18. I was hurting. And Tom and I were laying on the, where they were stretching us and trying to work the kinks out of our old bodies at the time. I said, "Tom, I said, man, we've got to get it done today." I said, "You know, they have stuck two of their best players out there to begin with and we have to set the stage early. So let's get it happening early, you know." I think Tom did get it happening early, and I thought I had it happening early. I hit it in there about 12 or 15 feet left of the hole and Darren Clarke shanks it 30 yards right of the green with the pin on the back right and he holes it from there. (Laughing). But anyway, we took care of it in three. I was 2-up by the time we left the fourth green. (Laughter.) You know, what a day. I mean, what can I say? Ben started the magic the night before when he talked about fate. That magic that he left, that he left there with all the players, I was one of the players, I was in the room, we saw what he said. He comes into the room, the magic continued that night when we went around the table talking about what the Ryder Cup meant to us. There was just magic in the air. You know, I think everybody left that room that night knowing that we were going to win the next day. We didn't know how, but we had that feeling, you know. The kick is to create that feeling early on instead of waiting till the last minute. That's what we're taxed to do.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, it may be because Sam Torrance is one of the few people in the world that would put them even money against us. Everyone else would say that we are the strong group on paper. That's what we all talk about, on paper, the U.S. team looks stronger. I think the U.S. kind of goes in there and they will wait on the right spot, like it will happen. Play long enough, it's going to happen. Instead of trying to seize the moment, take control of it immediately. On the contrary, the Europeans going in there and they are trying to take control; they are trying to seize the moment. They have no moments to lose. They have to take care of every moment they have got and they have done that.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, I'm working on those things. I think we've got a nice mix of players on this team. We've got a nice mix of youth and talent and some that have both and then we've got some experience. You know, I really like the mix of the team. You know, as I look down this team, I really don't see anything that we're missing. What I really do see is that you really get to pick what you feel like is playing the best, whose game matches up to Oakland Hills real well. At this point I guess that could change, a little bit. It could change a little bit in the next couple of days.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, if I had to choose between the two, I think they are equal. I think they are really equal. I know I'm riding the fence on you, and I know that doesn't make good print. You want me to jump out there and say one or the other. But honestly, it takes the guy that's playing the best that he can play at the time that his game suits Oakland Hills.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: From 11 through 20? Jeff Maggert, Scott Verplank, Stewart Cink, Jay Haas, Tim Herron, Todd Hamilton, Chris Reilly, Jonathan Kaye, Chris DiMarco ... (Laughter.) You know, I have continually said this, and I am going to continue to say this. I am not going to tip my hand. I like everybody behind that, everybody is worthy and all of those guys are anxiously awaiting a decision. Every one of those guys want to make that team and I know it. You know, I had calls from various guys. Tim Herron got sick, Tim Herron called me and told me: "I just want you to know I'm sick, that's why I'm not playing. It's not that I don't want to make the team." Whether Tim makes the team or Tim doesn't make the team, you've got to applaud him because he wanted me to know; he cared. But everybody's done that. I just bring Tim out because it just happened and we all know he's had Lyme Disease. There has not been a single guy in this bunch right here that has not really indicated to me at some point or some time that they would love to make this team.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: You know, there's a case to be made for both sides. I mean, Fred called me on Saturday around 11:00 in the morning in Milwaukee and he started telling me about that. I said, "Look, Fred," -- I stopped him before he finished. I said: Look, I'm not going to say anything critical one way or the other about this. The truth is that's the way the rules are stated and that's the way you feel like that it's best for you. So it doesn't make any difference whether I agree with it or the world agrees with it or the rest of the players. That's what you think is best and that's what you've got to do. I will tell you right now that you can solve all of these issues by making this team, and if you don't make this team, I'm either going to make you happy or I'm going to make you sad on Sunday night. The guy, what I'm looking for is the guy that's playing the best at the time and his game matches up to Oakland Hills. As I said, I've been spending a lot of time at Oakland Hills figuring out what I think it's going to take to do that. So, carry forward, and he finished second at Milwaukee. You know, there's a number of reasons why I wasn't going to say anything critical. I'm going to be honest, I think the B.C. Open has been a long-time standard. They have stood the test of time on the PGA TOUR, not under the best of circumstances, and if I were to be critical of Fred for that, then I'm critical of the B.C. Open and I'm not going to do that. Till the rule is written differently, that's within the rules. I'm not disgruntled at Fred for choosing that path.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Listen, when you talk about winning, we're going to put our own personal views aside and we are going to come together and play as a team for one common goal. And whether I agree with the method that you took to get there or not is immaterial. If you are playing good enough to win and help this team, then let's put all that aside and let's move forward. And I will send that message inside our team room.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I think these are mature men. I don't think I'll have to say that. If I sense I have to send that, I will. That's my point.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: No. I talked to Jackie and to Steve a little bit about it. I basically told both of them two it's going to be my decision. I said, I'll listen to your input, but I'm going to make this final call. You know, I don't want to get out -- the assistant captains have a role and they play an important role. But especially this particular year, I picked two assistant captains that are not in touch basically with current happenings on the Tour. Although I would always say Jackie Burke is totally in touch with everything, and if you don't believe that, ask him. (Laughter.) And then Steve has been hurt and has not been out on TOUR. But they are both -- they have a great deal to add to the team. They were the right picks for me because, you know, I guess I can go ahead and say -- this will be okay. And I'm going to use this analogy. When they sent the golf bags, when they asked me to make the decision for which golf bags we were going to have -- and that's not it by the way. It just says the right thing, it says "USA." There was four of them and I said, you know, if I pick that bag right here, 25 percent of the team aren't going to like it. If I pick that bag right there, 25 percent of the team is not going to like it, on down and so and so. Finally, "that bag right there." And that's just how decisive I've been about everything. Now, I'm opening myself up for a lot of criticism in the end because I didn't ask a lot of people a lot of questions about what they thought we ought to do. But, even if I do that and we don't come out of there with the performance that y'all want -- that the world wants -- not the world, the United States, let me rephrase that. (Laughter.) What we all want -- you know, I'm going to get criticized anyway. We are just going.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: You know, I've said this before. Jackie, he's historian, he's psychologist, he's motivator, he's the comedian, he will cover all of those gamuts at any point in time. Jackie is an incredible person. Anybody that doesn't know Jackie, I feel -- I wish they did because he is that sort of person. He's added a lot to my life. I'm thankful for everything that he's ever done in my life. And I think every young guy that makes the team that doesn't know Jackie Burke, at the end of the week, win or lose, they will be fighting me for spending time with Jackie Burke because he's that sort of guy. They will thank me because I picked him and they could spend time with him.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, you know, you're touching on a point that I think is a valid point that I can kind of parlay on the American side, too. We can't see what's inside of a person. You know, we see what's on the outside. We see whether they have got a good short game, we see if they are calculated. But there's a missing ingredient in this that we cannot see, and that's the will to win. The truth of the matter is, is that we can't pick the leader of the team. We can pick who we think should be the leader of the team. But there is a lot of surprises in the Ryder Cup a lot of times on who leads the team, and it's that missing I ingredient that we can't see. There's a special feeling, and y'all probably -- there's no way I can describe it to you. But during the opening ceremonies, and all of the things that are said and flags are raised, you have the dignitaries from the various countries that say things and then the fly-over and all of that sort of stuff. There's just a special feeling that comes over you that you realize, hey, this is a little different week. We're doing something different here. And that will affect somebody on that stage. That will move the waters from within, in other words.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, I didn't want to say it but the truth is, I was one of those guys who was moved in '99 and I had a lot of reasons for that. I was 12 years removed from making the Ryder Cup team. So truth is, the mere fact that I lifted myself up by my bootstraps and made the team, just making the team was something that nobody else thought I would ever do again. And then the fact that, hey, I am playing good right now and I can make a difference in this, and then asking myself to make that difference.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I think for various reasons, it's more of a challenge for the U.S. Team to do it because we are going in a lot of different directions. We are all going to a different corporate outing or a different charity outing. We are all boarding a different airplane going to a different spot, alone. We all have our own challenges within our own household. We are either not being the best husband or the best daddy we can be because we are being selfish and chasing our own dream. You know, the Europeans tend to travel together a lot more. I really don't know their situation, other than I know they go out and eat dinner a lot more together. And there's no reason why we don't other than we are -- you know, for instance I'll get to Denver at about 12:30 at night, you know, and I won't be too interested in doing anything tomorrow night other than catching up on all the rest that I have been deprived of. So, you know, small talk with the guys this week in Denver about, what they are thinking. But, I mean, it's that sort of life that we lead as Americans, and it's nobody's fault. It just the happened we are dealt and the way we have to do things. So everybody on the American team wants to be united, and it's just a bit more of a challenge to do it in a rapid fashion, you know.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: You know, these guys are role models. People look up to them. We have got the greatest , probably the most recognizable name in sports that's on this team -- I mean, not probably. He is the most recognizable man name in sports today. I don't think it's too much to ask of these players to remember what's going on in the world today and how could we possibly change what's going on in the world today. I don't think it adds any pressure to these guys. I think they know what their job is. I'm a patriotic person and I really believe that -- I'm proud of our country and I think we are misunderstood in a lot of the world. I mean, you know, I'm an American and that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it, basically. So I'm going to ask the guys to be respectful. I don't know what else to say. Let's by patriotic, but let's be respectful, too, of what's going on.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: You know, listen, he's got different challenges than Jack Nicklaus had. You know, he's living in a different era than Jack Nicklaus did. And anything beyond that that I say, I'm either taking away from Jack's career or I'm trying to tell you how tough Tiger's got it. But he lives in a fish bowl. The man by anybody else's standards has had a really good year, and by his standards, everybody says he's failing. You know, he's being critiqued every time he swings the club. And there's a bunch of armchair quarterbacks out there that think they know what's wrong with Tiger. Tiger set a pace that the world has never seen, you know.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Listen, Tiger played great Sunday. I don't know if y'all watched or not, but he played really well. Tiger has been saying that he's very close -- and you know, it's a hell of a stage at the Ryder Cup. There will be a lot of focus on Tiger Woods that week. I have continually said that he's risen the most every occasion, and I'm sure he's going to rise to the occasion that week. I feel certain of that.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Are we on Tiger? Would you sit him down, Doug?

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: (Laughter.) Hey, Julius, I'm still waiting on my check. (Laughter.) I'm not getting paid the big bucks, either. Here is the truth, and I will say this continually. Tiger, I mean, I've said it in here; he's the most recognizable name in sports. I mean, think about this, Phil has had an incredible year, and is the story more what Phil is doing or not or what Tiger is not doing? I read the paper, y'all write it, I don't know. What is the story? What's your biggest story?

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: (Laughter.) Hey, listen, I'm handicapped in the booth right now. I can't say sometimes what I really feel, till the Ryder Cup is over with.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I wasn't at the Buick. But I will tell you that Jim Furyk and Jerry Kelly played in driving rain on Tuesday. It was terrible weather up there that day and they played all 18 holes.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Not disappointing to me. It's what we mentioned earlier, there's challenges in the world. These guys are busy doing a lot of other things. I mean, they have got -- we go over my schedule at the beginning of the year, and I go to corporate outings now and charity events and everything else. I mean, if you look at our schedules, it would be a busy-looking paper, in other words. You know, there's plenty of time these guys prepare every week for an event. In one week, and they all know Oakland Hills. Tiger remembers Oakland Hills well, I can tell you right now, and Phil does. All of these guys remember Oakland Hills.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I am.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Yeah, obviously, I'm excited that Jim Furyk has come back as strong as he has. I think that's a credit to his talent that he can lay out for six months and come back playing this strong. I mean, certainly it makes it a lot easier on he and I both. And second thing is, Chad Campbell is a tremendous talent. He's the sort of guy that he might be the guy that I described earlier; that you get there, you see what you're all doing there, the flags are raised. Then the fly-over takes place and all of a sudden the waters start flowing. He's got that sort of talent, he could be a real leader. Be a real leader.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, let's talk about Kenny Perry, the guy you just mentioned. I don't know exactly how old Kenny Perry is, but probably 44, something like that would be my guess. Never played on a Ryder Cup team and he's never felt what he's going to feel. He played on the Presidents Cup team. He played on foreign ground. I can tell you right now, that's a different feeling than what he's going to feel when he gets to Oakland Hills. He's very talented. Has changed his game immensely, the way that he thinks of himself as a player and everything else. There's no telling how good Kenny Perry may play at Oakland Hills. He is one hell of a player. That guy right behind David Toms who was the leader in 2002 -- I mean, David Toms, right behind Kenny Perry I'm saying, he's a quiet guy, goes about his business, got a good golf swing, great putter, great short game. I think Oakland Hills will fit David really well. Chad Campbell, we talked about him. I think Fred Funk will be good at Oakland Hills. He's a good iron players, controls where his irons are going. He's not strong. He's not the powerful player. But Steve Flesch, I've never seen a left-hander that didn't have a good short game. Chips and putts good; that's going to be dynamite at Oakland Hills. And then Jerry Kelly at 10, he's a fighter. He's the sort of guy that whatever he's got to do, he wants to do it.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: My job is not to critique the system, but to take the system with what they have to work with and do the best we can with it. And I'm sure the PGA looks at it every time, if they need to tweak it, they will. If they need to feel like it will help, they will. My experience over the last two years of working with Julius and the PGA is that they want to make the Ryder Cup the premiere event in the world, and they work diligently at doing that -- I'm complimenting you, Julius, in case you can't hear this. (Laughter.) I mean, seriously, they work hard at making this a premiere event. When you go there a year out and you see the people staged at the tournament site a year out, you see what they are going and how they go about their business; and you go there six months out and you see the progress that's made; then you go there 45 days out, 46 days out and you see what's going on there, you realize, they have been working behind the scenes. There's a lot going on. And my experience is, is that they don't -- they don't miss a turn. And if they think there's a better way to do this, I'm sure they will proceed forward.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: When I'm done with this, I'm going to go -- and I'm going to let them continue their hard work. (Laughter.) I doubt I would have anything to say because, you know, the truth is, how could anybody argue that any of the guys that are in the top -- that are not in the Top-10, but are in the Top-25, how could you argue that they should be in the Top-10 and the other guys are not, shouldn't be -- are that shouldn't be -- was I clear on that? I mean, the guys -- I think the guys that are in the Top-10 would probably be there any way you did this. That's my point. I mean, you might figure out ten different ways to do the point system and you might change that by one, and I doubt it's going to be in the top seven or eight guys that you change that. I guess that's a back-handed way of saying I think the system is pretty darned good right now.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, that's available to me, and I'll pass a glance over it. You know, the reason why the captains picks are looked at so heavily is that's one of those things that makes newsworthy print because that's where we can second-guess what's going on, and that's what the world we live in likes to do. (Laughing). You know, I've got broad shoulders, you know, and there are going to be some things some people dislike what I do and some people that like what I do. I can only assure you of one thing: I will pick the players that I feel like can help the United States Team win the Ryder Cup back. That's only in my opinion, and you're either welcome to get on board or write that you disagree with me. You're probably going to do that anyway.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, let me put it to you like this. I think basically everybody in the Top-25 would like to make this team. So, I don't know that I'd call all 25, all 15 of those guys, or all 13, because I'll pick two probably and that would leave 13 out. The guys that I think will be sensitive about it, I'll certainly call them and tell them about it.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, I think the reason why the world rallies behind him is because he represents a lot of what America is about. You know, being able to be down and get back up. He's had struggles in his life and he's rebounded from the struggles in his life. And the second part of that question is ?

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, he's playing good. He's playing good. You know, there's a lot of things to consider. I mean, in anybody. I know you're asking about John Daly, but in the captain's picks, there's a lot of things that we can get besides a good golf game. We can get the guy that's patriotic, we can get the guy that's calculated, we can get the guy that's -- whatever the missing ingredient that we don't have, that's our free agency pick. You know, we get to add to the team what we don't already have or what we think we don't already have.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, we're going to go back to the question that you asked earlier. In the world we live in, I think crowd composure is a good thing. So, you know, I'm going to stop it right there, because the way I just answered that, you might take that as I might not look at him. But I am. He deserves consideration. But I'm not just looking at him; I'm looking at everything.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: All I can say is that I think at the end of the week, if everything is done in a respectful way, and we remember where we're from and where we want to go, and we're successful, then we've had a stage that we delivered the message that we want to deliver, as a country.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I can turn to Julius here, but I know that a lot of what they implemented at The Belfry in terms of alcohol was also implemented at Oakland Hills. You may want to touch on it.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: You know in '99 when all of that was going on, there was growth pains going on at the same time. For some reason, we were in a huge growth segment where the amount of contracts that everybody was signing for at that time was much larger than they had ever been before. I think it was on players' minds how much they were getting paid to do all of these many different things. You know, we are past all of that now and I think the players are pretty much -- it's a clear picture in front of them what we do for money and what we don't do for money and I think we're past all that. I think the PGA has done a nice job of -- they did everything that I asked them to do in -- I mean, I applaud the PGA and what they do. They have got a great event and they work hard to make it better, and they do it not only from the public standpoint but from the players' standpoint.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, winning breeds confidence. There is no doubt about that. Let's take this last weekend. I know y'all are heavy on John Daly, okay, I'm going to step out here and say something -- I guard against saying anything that's controversial in any sort of way, but this is a question to you, Doug. Did John Daly get closer to believing in himself because he played well, or did he doubt himself because he didn't make the putt on 18?

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Listen, Doug, I'm just doing that because that's the way I have to look at everything. And I use John Daly in that instance, but I look at everybody on the left-hand side of this page, I look at everybody in the same sense, because ultimately, that's what we are going to be dealing with when it comes right down to it. So, I mean, now it depends on how you want to look at it. I'm a player and have been for 23 years professionally. I've got to look at all of it.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: He's played better golf than John Daly for the last two years, all in all, every swing that he makes. Now I'm only using John Daly because that's the name that everybody comes up with. That's everybody else's name, not mine. I've got to look at every one of those points. Is it a hard decision? You're damn right it's a hard decision. It's a very hard decision. But we're going to have to go with what I think at the end and I can't be indecisive and talking to my wife constantly about it and calling Steve Jones. Let me tell you something Steve Jones told me last night on the phone, and this is something for y'all to think about. '97, he was on the bubble and Tom Kite didn't pick him. And he was worried to death about, you know, "I've got to make the points, I've got to make the point, I want to make the team, I want to make the team." He said, "I put so much pressure on myself, I told me wife, win, lose or draw, picked or not picked, I know I will win shortly, because the pressure has been lifted of the Ryder Cup." And he did. I don't know what tournament it was, he told me last night -- he won Canada right after that. He won in it Montreal after that. But anyway, he did. He won immediately. But the pressure was lifted. That happens to a lot of guys on the left-hand side of the page; they want to make the team so badly. Look at Scott Verplank. You know, he wants to make that team so bad, he's actually double-bogeyed and bogeyed several finishing holes that's kept him from being in the Top-10 and scoring points. He's finished 11th or 12th, a lot, you go back and look at it. Listen, there's no discredit to Scott Verplank. He wants it. You can't deny that he wants to make it. Now, will that affect him because he wasn't able to close the deal earlier? Now, here I'm going to jump out there and make an opinion. I'm going to say it's going to be a different sort of pressure after he either makes or doesn't make the team, just like Steve Jones described to me last night on the phone.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: So you see the pressure? You see the pressure that's lifted? You're able to free up and go do something.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Listen, you can't complicate this any more than it already is. (Laughter.) I am aware of how complicated the process is. I am looking. My pad is full of stuff as you write things down. I'm looking at every possible angle that I can look at.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: It's in this factory right up here. (Pointing to top of head.)

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I tell you what, winning a major the way he did, playing 40 straight holes with Ernie Els and playing the way he did would have to certainly have to be an eye-opening situation for any captain. I can't tell you, and I'm not going to tell you, whether I think Todd Hamilton is going to make the team or not, but he moved me in what he did.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I played two or three times with Todd this year. He's a class act. He's quiet, goes about his business, mature.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I think it will be all right. I think it will be all right. You know, the thing that moved me the most about him was he rose to whatever occasion he had to. And I tell you something else that moved me about what he did. He was in a crisis situation on the 18th hole, and he didn't do anything until he was aware of everything that he had to be aware of. You know a lot of times, you get that much intense pressure on you, you kind of want to hurry up and get out of that. You're moving away from that sort of pressure. I mean, he felt the fear and he coped with it.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: There's a lot of things happening right now as we speak. John Daly early in the year created a lot of conversation and then he quietly went by the wayside and everybody kind of forgot about it and now he played good this last week and everybody is kind of mentioning him. The other side of the coin, since y'all want to mention names, you know, Stewart Cink, hitting it darned good right now. He had a hell of a record in the Presidents Cup. He was undefeated in the Presidents Cup. Since y'all want to mention names, Todd Hamilton wasn't even close to on my radar screen and boom, there he is. So, it's getting a little dicier than it was earlier.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Yeah, I'm interested in how healthy everybody is, but we still have 45 days out. The only two health issues that I really know of in this situation, basically, I think you're talking about from captain's picks standpoint -- Scott Verplank, he's got, what do you call that stuff, plantar fascitis or something like that on his feet, which he says is better than it's been in a long time. Tim Herron has got Lyme Disease. But the day I called him after he called had me and said he had Lyme Disease, he was out chipping and putting. The people I knew that had Lyme Disease, they were on IVs.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Being decisive.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: When I say -- okay, I can be more specific. I'm going to be decisive in what I think it's going to take for us to win, and I'm going to follow through with it. We're not going to have any -- it not going to be up for debate on who all plays where. I don't think, and I hate to liken it to this, but I don't think Bill Parcells sits down with the top three quarterbacks on the Dallas Cowboys and says, okay, let's all talk about who is going to start and I want to make everybody happy. He's just not going to do that. I'm not going to do that, either.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: I mean, unless something happens this week in Denver and something happens in the PGA that makes it very clear to us, I would say it won't simplify itself. I think the natural process of what goes on after the captain's picks is half the world will agree with it and the other half of the world will disagree with it, and we'll all write about it and that will be the story until Ryder Cup comes along in some sort of way. I wouldn't expect that to change much, would you? Any way I do this, any way I do this. If we went in USA Today tomorrow and I said, let's let the world pick it --

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: They are going to pick Jay Haas and John Daly. That's who the world will pick.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Not at all. Not at all. But, now let me ask you a question. Let's think about the newspaper after the world picked it. We just crave second-guessing, don't we? We crave it. We want to second-guess the decision that's made. And I tell you what, that is the biggest defeated attitude if we take that sort of attitude into the Ryder Cup, we will get beat. I will not allow the U.S. Team to do that. So, we're going to live and die with what we think, basically. We'll either be right or wrong, and that's all we can be no matter how we do this.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: No. In fact, I tell you how this is going to go, just so y'all know. On Saturday afternoon, I will talk to Jackie Burke and Steve Jones in a separate room. I will write the names down in order that they are going to play, and I'll walk in and lay it down just like that and I'll walk out. And that's exactly how we're going to play. It's not going to be up to anybody else to do this. That's what I mean by being decisive. You know, I just think that's the way we've got to play. We can't -- I'm standing out in the middle of the 18th hole. It's a critical match, 5-iron or 6-iron, what's the chance of me hitting a good shot.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Absolutely. And the players have to be on board with my decision, too. I mean, I need them to be only because -- they may disagree with it, when I finally make it but then they have got to get on board with it after that, because the task is still the same, and what's needed from each individual players hasn't changed. It's still to go make as many birdies as you can.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: This is from -- I think we're all a process of experiences. So to say that the Ryder Cup teams that I've been on has influenced me would be correct. But it is what I am all about, too, because the experiences make the person that I am.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, the format that is the hardest is alternate-shot. I mean, if you're a little bit off in confidence, that can really be taxing to you because you have maybe two holes or three holes before you're actually called upon to hit a shot that really matters; and then all of a sudden, boom, here it is. So if you're not riding high on confidence, that can be a challenge. That's one of the reasons as being the home captain, you're able to pick the format that we play first, and I picked the best-ball format first because I felt like that's not only best for the U.S. Team but it's best for the European Team. It's kind of, let's get our feet wet with somebody at our back.

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Well, the PGA of America represent the guys that are the professionals at our home golf courses, who each and every one of the guys on the left side of the table has talked about. They teach the future of tomorrow. You know, that's what the Ryder Cup is all about, it represents -- I think it's safe to say it's your largest ability as the PGA of America to make money and to implement things that are good to grow the game. Am I right or wrong?

CAPTAIN HAL SUTTON: Our future, and I want to take this one step further, there's a lot of things that we're doing that we're shooting ourselves in the foot in golf. And I won't go into those things, but there's a lot of good things that are happening. And the PGA of America is helping a lot of those things and that is making sure that the guys are taught well and they understand what the game is about and they are doing that at the grass roots level.