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PGA TOUR MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 31, 2009Hal SuttonMICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: Welcome. Greetings from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. I'm Michael McPhillips, Director of Communications for the Champions Tour. I'm joined in Ponte Vedra by Phil Stambaugh and Maureen Callaghan of our media team and Hal Sutton on the phone from Shreveport where he'll give us a weather report in just a few minutes where it's snowing. The Champions Tour 2009 season started last week at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on the Big Island of Hawaii with 2008 Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year and World Golf Hall of Fame member Bernhard Langer capturing his fifth Champions Tour title. The Champions Tour Florida swing begins in 11 days with two full field events: the Allianz Championship at the Old Course at Broken Sound Golf Club in Boca Raton, followed by the ACE Group Classic hosted by Peter Jacobsen at the new TCP Treviso Bay in Naples. We thank you for joining us on this media call featuring one of our rookies from the Class of 2008 who had two starts on the Champions Tour last season and a gentleman who's had major success on the PGA TOUR, Hal Sutton. And then before we get started, just a couple of reminders. Transcripts of this call will be available on pgatour.com, asapsports.com later, and pgatourgolfmedia.com. And then we'll have some opening remarks from Hal and then questions from the media joining us on the call. And, again, thank everybody for joining us. It is my privilege to introduce Hal Sutton, one of the newest members of the Champions Tour. As many of you know, he's a 14-time PGA TOUR winner over a career that spanned from 1982 to 2006. At the 2000 PLAYERS Championship, Hal went head-to-head with Tiger Woods and came away with a one-stroke wire-to-wire victory. The victory came 17 years after his first win at TPC Sawgrass in 1983. Hal also won the 1983 PGA Championship at Riviera defeating Jack Nicklaus by one stoke. Hal was a member of four United States Ryder Cup teams and captain of the 2004 squad. He also qualified for the 1998 American Presidents Cup team and was a member of the United States Presidents Cup team in 2000. In 2007 Hal received a Payne Stewart Award for his charitable efforts, which include the establishment of the CHRISTUS Schumpert Sutton's Children's Hospital in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. Hal made his debut on the Champions Tour, as I indicated, last year in Houston and finished tied for 23rd at the Administaff Small Business Classic. This year we're fortunate that Hal has already committed to play in the Champions Tour first full field event, the Allianz Championship, and will then play the ACE Group Classic in Naples where he's also served as player consultant collaborating with Arthur Hills on the design of the new host for this ACE Group Classic, the TCP, for the new host venue for the ACE Group Classic the TCP Treviso Bay. Hal had been the only current Champion Tour player to compete on a course where he can collaborate on a design. Hal is also committed to play in our March California event, the Toshiba Classic in Newport Beach, California, and the AT&T Championship -- the AT&T Champions Classic in Valencia, California. Hal, good morning, and thank you again for joining us. And could you just start off taking us back to your debut last year on the Champions Tour and maybe what you learned from those two events that you played in Texas and tell us what you've been doing in the off-season and what your plans are for your rookie year on the Champions Tour in 2009. HAL SUTTON: Well, good morning, first of all. The weather report is snow, 28 degrees, in Shreveport, Louisiana, so it's going to stick. I learned that there's no defining moments on the Senior Tour -- or the Champions Tour, I'm sorry -- send me the bill for saying the wrong thing there. But I think all the guys' careers have been defined, and I think there's a certain amount of -- it's pretty relaxed out there and it's a nice atmosphere and being in the locker room and knowing everybody that walks in the locker room was refreshing and, you know, it's still very competitive out there and guys still want to win. But I think it's almost an air of relaxing -- of a relaxing atmosphere that can't be described almost. I mean, I've tried to describe it many times, and it's just something that you've got to experience. People try to talk about it before everyone out there, and you say, oh, right, right, really, I mean, because we were so competitive on the regular tour, but it just seemed different out there. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: But at the same token winning never really gets old, does it, and there's still a lot of fire out there to want to be able to compete. HAL SUTTON: Well, everybody has expectations of themselves. And you can't get away from that. I mean, we've all competed for too long. And you expect to see yourself in the winner's circle, and I've never been very good at participating. I don't like doing that. And, although, if you play golf, if your name's not Tiger Woods, you spend the majority of your time being the turtle chasing. But, you know, you have to see yourself in the winner's circle. And winners do see themselves there. Whether they get there or not, they still envision themselves being there. And you still have that atmosphere on the Champions Tour also. I mean, everybody's wanting to win. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: Well, great. At this time we'll open it up to questions, and if you would please give your name and affiliation. And we'll take the first question, please. Q. Good morning. Hey, how are you guys doing? Just wanted to ask you about the tournament being at Treviso Bay and your reaction to it being there and also playing in the tournament on your own course, what that's going to be like, or a course you helped design anyways. HAL SUTTON: Well, yeah, I was just excited enough my own course. Q. Well, right. HAL SUTTON: Yeah. I was excited to hear that it was going there. I think it will be -- it will be fun to compete in an event there, and at the same time to get the reviews. There will be people that will like it and people that won't. That's just the nature of anything that -- you know, of anything. But I think overall most guys will enjoy it and I'm sure it will be in great shape. And it will present its challenges. And at the end of the week, they will crown a winner. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: Anything Hal -- this is Michael McPhillips again -- anything unique to the site when you're, of course, looking at it or are you really pleased with how the final growing stages have been completed? HAL SUTTON: Yeah, I felt like the golf course turned out really good. I mean, I think there's some -- it's going to require some great shot making. I mean, it has some TCP characteristics. It's got a lot of risk reward in it, it's got some great wedge shots on it, or short iron shots, and where you need to be on the money with it. And I like the way the golf course turned out. I hope all the guys do. Q. Good morning, Hal. HAL SUTTON: Good morning. Q. I wanted to follow up on what you said about TCP characteristics actually. Can you just give a few thoughts on the distinction of having done other courses of what you have to make sure you incorporate when you do with TCP, what that means at TCP for people who don't know? HAL SUTTON: Well, I mean, most of the time when a TCP is built it's built with better players in mind. And you're trying to make it playable for the average player. But at the same time when you take up to tournament level it can be challenging to some of the best players in the world too. And, you know, you do that with distances and angles, basically, and then shots in the greens. And there's a lot of risk reward in it. The further you go back, there's decisions to be made. And this TPC is no different than a lot of the others, in that you've got to make choices. And how you make your choices and how you execute your choices will determine how you play. Q. And then I wanted to follow up with something. You said about being in the locker room on the Champions Tour there is a more relaxed atmosphere and a lot of familiar faces. Is that part of why you're -- you know, you talked about just needing to get away a little bit from the Tour in more recent years and then there was a gap where you turned 50 and then came out last last season to play a couple of events, was that comfort level -- did that make it easier for you to be out on this Tour and feel like you weren't going to -- I read an interview where you said you didn't want to say the wrong thing to someone who asked your the wrong question on a debut that you might have been angry. Does that make it easier for you to be out here and not feel like you're going to not going to get some inquisition or some sort of thing like that? HAL SUTTON: Well, you know, I think what's happened -- you know, I didn't necessarily agree with the direction golf was going, but maybe golf was evolving and Hal Sutton wasn't. And I think what happens is is -- I mean, that's what four years away from the game will do for you. It'll make you sit back and take a look and say, hey , wait a minute, you know, what really is important here. One of the things that I'm going -- I mean, my New Year's resolution was not gonna get caught up in the details of how or why or anything else; I'm just going to take care of my business. You know, I know how to play the game. That's what I know how to do. I don't know how to build a game, I don't know how to protect a game. And, quite frankly, I'm not sure anybody else does either. I think the game's much bigger than all of us, and it's in its own evolution. And so that's why I'm going back. Q. With whatever was going on, or from outside, you feel like you've made peace I guess with that or that -- HAL SUTTON: Yeah, I think I made peace with that. I mean, you know, I think -- do I think that -- if I'd been in charge, I wouldn't have moved the game the direction it is, but I wasn't, so that's okay. I would have kept field more into the game than maybe power was. But I think it's just the evolution of the game. It's not one somebody's decision. So and maybe that's what I got caught up in is that maybe -- maybe not necessarily that it was one somebody's decision but it was multiple decisions made by a few, basically. And it is what it is. I mean, I'm not worried about it. I'm going the play golf. They're going to show me where the first tee is and I'm going to try to bang it down the middle and make the put. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: When you came out in -- at Texas in October -- and this is Michaels McPhillips again -- you talked about just sort of getting the lay of the land and kind of seeing what you had to work on to get ready for your first full season. Could you comment on that and maybe a couple things that you've been doing during the off-season? HAL SUTTON: Yeah, I've actually been working -- I think -- you know, I notice the guys out on the Senior Tour score really well. And I think your scoring is done from a 7-iron down. And that's what I've been working on, short game and short irons, trying to make sure I have scoring clubs in the right -- you know, I'm using them well, in other words. So that's what I've been working on. I think in order to win you've got to make a lot of birdies, and in order to make a lot of birdies you've got to hit it close, because it's a game of percentages. So the closer you hit it, the closer your chip it, we make more three-footers, and when -- then we make four -- we make more five-footers than we make eight-footers, you know. And it's just literally a game of percentages. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: And with the weather situation, have you had a chance to practice or have you been going back to Texas at all? HAL SUTTON: Well, I just got back from Southern California last night. I've been out at Callaway's test center out there working out there. So, yeah, by moving around trying to find the weather that will allow me to do it. Q. Hal, what do you think about 54 holes versus 72? HAL SUTTON: I think that's great. I think being able to play in your life a little bit, which is what the Champions Tour allows you to do with, for instance, two weeks on and a few off and the way this tour is spread out. I mean, one thing that's really difficult about the regular tour is they play so many events that 'if 'you take off -- you know, if you're not Tiger Woods, if you take off you feel like you're loosing ground. And, you know, on the Champions Tour you take off what everybody else takes off, you know, and you're not losing any ground. I mean, and that's part of the competitive spirit of it. See? What I just said right there, nobody wants to lose ground, nobody wants to -- I mean, they want to hold their own. They want to win. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: And is that -- you know, the fact of the 54 holes mean that you need to be a little bit more aggressive, obviously birdies are always important, but particularly, you know, in 54 holes verus a fourth round? HAL SUTTON: Well, I would say that's probably right. I mean, you know, I played two 54-hole tournaments in my life that were planned, and that was the last two that I played in. The rest of them that we played that were 54 holes were by conditions of weather. So I do think you do have to hit the accelerator. But, you know, I'm not sure that when you play golf it's any different whether its 54 holes or 72; you're going to hit it down the middle and you're going to play the smart shot into the green and you're going to take your chances where you can. And whether you're playing 18 or whether you're playing 36, 54, or 72, the game is still played the same way. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: Right. That's a great point. Thank you. I understand we have another question from Greg Harwood. Q. Thanks. Hal, how will it be to play on the course form the -- or in the tournament from the standpoint -- I mean, you mentioned people are probably going to give you feedback in a way you're sort of a part host or whatever. Do you think it will be easy to focus on playing the tournament and not getting caught up in so-and-so didn't like this whole or whatever? HAL SUTTON: You know what? Absolutely. First of all, let me tell you, one, when you design a golf course, I mean, as certainly as just a player consultant, every decision is not your own. All we did is throw out ideas, and we landed on either a compromise or occasionally one person won over the other. But we all reached an agreement to get to where we were at. And I don't think anything golf course-wise everybody's got one completed. I mean, everybody that's ever designed one had completed it, and not everybody liked every facion of it. And I'm comfortable with them not liking something about it. You know, most of the times the things that I didn't like about a golf course didn't fit me particularly we'll, and that's why I didn't like it. It might have fit many others, but it didn't fit me. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: This is Michael McPhillips again. Actually the ACE Group Classic is hosted by Peter Jacobsen. At the option of deferring any comments/questions to the official host -- HAL SUTTON: Yeah, Peter did a good job with that too. But I think actually Peter actually played the golf course several times and said he really, really liked it. Yes, he did. I mean, I look for positive comments on the golf course. I didn't -- as we did it, I didn't see anything that was going to be major upsetting things. I mean, the bunker in the middle of the 9th fairway might be a little bit of a -- somebody may oppose that a little bit. But I don't think so, because the hole's not that long. It's one of those deals where you make a decision. Q. How much are you planning on playing this year? Is it going to be a start off and see where you go or do you have a kind of a plan for the season? HAL SUTTON: Well, I'm going to play a pretty full schedule. I've never been one that committed six and eight months out. So, I mean, actually for me to commit to the first four straight was -- that's about as far as I've ever committed out anywhere. But my plans are playing a pretty full schedule. Q. You talked about everyone has expectations out on this tour, winners want to win again. And do you have specific goals or expectations in mind for the season and beyond perhaps winning? Is it to make yourself a real presence or any kind of thing like that to get back into the mix of the guys that are the first list of names where they're talking about who's going to win? HAL SUTTON: Yeah, well, I obviously want to win. But I've been out of the game for four years. And I've been working against weather here trying to get ready for this year. But I believe that I still have what it takes to win. And when you do that, you're looking at it that way. And, you know, I'd like to win multiple times, and, you know, I'm going to work toward trying to do that. We'll see where it takes me. I mean, I'm a little bit apprehensive to set specific goals having left the game for four years. And when I left it, I mean I left it. I didn't play at all. So -- and you know what? That was really good. Because it really was a cleansing process for me. Q. Did you find yourself more recently actually missing just the golf itself? HAL SUTTON: You know what? The better I've hit it, the more I missed it. If that makes any sense. I tell you, when you don't hit it very good, you don't miss this game because it can punish you. But when you start to hit it and you start to feel that this is the way you used to hit it and you know that if you hit it like that you'll be able to score with that, you kind of get anxious about playing. Q. You haven't hit it that well recently or you have started hitting it better? HAL SUTTON: No, I started hitting it good. Q. Okay. HAL SUTTON: I've started hitting it a lot better. Q. And the only other thing I wanted to ask was just another follow-up I should have asked you on the TPC, those things you talked about about building it in mind, that it can host championship golf tournament golf for the best players in the world but also keeping in mind the regular players, the high-end courses, that's not necessarily something that -- you might do that for another course that they have those expectations, to want to be able to be available to the best players. I mean, you might do those things for a course like that if it wasn't a TPC. HAL SUTTON: Well, you know, specifically when you're trying to design a golf course that's not a TPC, I think you're trying to design to what the developer's wants at that time and -- or what the resort is wanting. You may have a developer come in and say I want the hardest golf course in the world. Well, then, you've got to -- you know, you're taxed at that point to do whatever you can to make it as hard as you can make it. And you may have a resort come in and say I want to move people around in a hurry. Well, you can't make it hard if you want to do that. Q. Okay. Thanks again. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: Hal, this is Michael McPhillips again. Will you be having some new equipment when you come out in 11 days? HAL SUTTON: I'll have Callaway equipment but new driver, and I got a new Scotty Cameron putter while I was out there. And just little things. I mean, same set of irons I played with the last two events. Not -- I mean, new to me, but, yeah, new to my bag somewhat. Not anything new. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: Okay. Well, anything else anyone wants to ask? Or any other comments, Hal, that you'd like to make? We are of obviously extremely excited about you coming out for these events. And maybe I would just ask you if you had any conversations with Tom Lehman at all and the fact that he'll be making his rookie debut later this spring, or any of the other rookies coming out. HAL SUTTON: No, I haven't. I saw Olin Brown while I was out at the Calloway. He's excited about coming out. And I just told him he'll enjoy it from the little experience that I had with it. I enjoyed it and enjoyed seeing old friends. And I'm looking forward to it. I really am. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: We're delighted, Al. And, again, thank you very much for joining us on this call. And I know that I want to thank Seth and Greg for being on the call with us and any of the other writers will be picking up the transcript when we post it. And we wish you a lot of success out there and we look forward that you're going to be a real crowd favorite and again you can defer those questions to the official host. HAL SUTTON: There you go. Q. Just remember, Hal, on the Champions Tour you're only going to get 77 other opinions. HAL SUTTON: Okay, good. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: Not 144 or... HAL SUTTON: There you go. There you go. All right. I'll keep that in mind. MICHAEL MCPHILLIPS: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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