THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 27, 2000

Hal Sutton

HAL SUTTON: I feel really tired. I knew it wasn't going to go without Tiger making his charge. All I can say is I was planning on him making that eagle putt. I hope me planning on it didn't force it in the hole for him. But anyway, he played great. He is -- he lives up to his No. 1 ranking all the time, and I can't say enough good things about Tiger. He is a great player.

HAL SUTTON: Yeah, it is okay to praise him now. I don't have to go hit another shot with him out there.

HAL SUTTON: I played good. I was really proud of the way I played because I kept my game plan all week long to play strategic golf and try to take advantage of the opportunities when I had -- when I had the chance. Going into the final round, I was going to make sure that I did not beat myself and I drove the ball so good the last round, with the exception of 16, where I came off of it and put it in the right rough. I just -- that was one of the big factors, just never looked like I was in trouble from Tiger's perspective. If you give him an open door, he just rushes through it, that is what I was trying to keep from doing, was to keep from giving him an open door.

HAL SUTTON: I wouldn't have done it any other -- on this particular golf course, you know, I mean, I read the paper -- or I heard Tiger -- whatever it was, where he said there is a lot of water you have got to hit it over. That is true. I had the same water that he had to hit over. I mean, this golf course, it asked everything of you. It asked you to drive it straight. It asked you to know how far to hit each club. It asked you to have a good short game, and it asked you to have a lot of nerves. I don't know what else is required of a great golf course.

HAL SUTTON: Not with me it wasn't. I mean, I said out there, I thank the crowd for keeping the respect in and the integrity in the game, because Tiger Woods is not bigger than the game. And you all do a damn good job of making him bigger than the game. That is what makes it tough. That is why a lot of people get even against him because they pull for the underdog sometimes. You know, I mean, I beckon you all to let's keep the respect in the game. Let's go back to Arnold Palmer days, Ben Hogan days, Jack Nicklaus days. None of those guys were ever bigger than the game. The game is the biggest of all. I will tell you all the truth: I got nervous as heck. I have been nervous for the last two or three days knowing that the big deal that it had been made, and I had said, I'd continually said that it was not a "Tiger Woods against Hal Sutton." And I mean, I kept getting more nervous and more nervous. The other night, I was sitting in the bed, I thought: Well, you know what, I am not praying to him. I am not praying to him, so he is not a god, for sure. So I mean, when I finally -- that realization came over me, it is like: Okay, you know, this is okay. He is just human just like I am, so we can do this.

HAL SUTTON: Yeah. But again, that is kind of like what I was talking about. I mean, Tiger has done enough of his winning. Everybody has made him so big that -- I don't in any way want to take anything away from Tiger. I, above all, can tell you how hard he is to beat. He is -- he is the greatest player in the game.

HAL SUTTON: I tell you what, I don't know. I thought as I was riding in the van on the way in. I thought: What else I am going to have to deal with this week?

HAL SUTTON: I was trying to keep from doing that. I actually had a lot of putts in the last round. It was because I hit 17 greens, and my strategy for the last round was to make sure that I stayed where I could always 2-putt. I never wanted to 3-putt, and I pretty much did that. One thing that hurt was I never attacked the pin, basically, which I didn't get a lot of real good birdie putts. I had a lot of 15-footers, 20-, 25-footers.

HAL SUTTON: Like at 16, I was trying to play the ball off the slope on my third shot there. I needed to have carried it further. But, I mean, I didn't want to go right at the pin. I knew the slope would help me get it to the right. 17, was the same way. There was no way I was going to fire at that pin. I mean, I knew all I had to do was hit that thing on dry land over there in the middle of that green and I could 2-putt that. If I happened to push it ten feet, well, then it catches slope. It will go down to the flag. But, you know, that is the way I tried to play. At 18, I actually played it at the right center of the green. I had exactly the right club and distance to where I could just go ahead and put my swing on it, kind of drew in the hole. I still wasn't shooting right at the flag for that. I let the draw take it over there.

HAL SUTTON: Yeah.

HAL SUTTON: Well, yeah. I mean I was really shocked when he pulled out his iron off that tee. I thought to myself, I looked over, saw he had his iron in his hand. I immediately went across my mind: Maybe I ought to back off and hit 3-wood. But then I said: Well, you know what, I am not going to be able to hit my 3-wood any further than he is going to hit his iron. I need the advantage on the last hole. I think I am one of the best drivers in the game, so I am going to play to my strength. And I picked out those trees in the distance, those real light colored trees. I hit it right at it. So....

HAL SUTTON: I won't have to do that. You all will do that for me. I mean, I am guaranteed -- in fact, I can predict all these articles tomorrow. You know what, we hash this anyway we want to. I have always said he is the greatest player in the game three or four times here today. I am proud to have beat him. What can I say? I mean, it was nerve-wracking to beat him. I had to make several three-footers coming down the stretch there. He put a lot of pressure on me there. When he birdied -- come back after 3-putting 12, he comes right back and birdies 13, and then eagles 16. I mean, he is a great player.

HAL SUTTON: Probably the second year of that slump whenever I didn't play any better. I thought the first year was a fluke, then the second year when I didn't play any better, the realization that, hey, I am going to take my one-time exemption, and we're either going to do it this next year or we are going to find something else to do.

HAL SUTTON: No. Not at that point, I didn't. Going back to those dark years, there was no way that I could have done this then. I didn't have the courage to do that then. I mean, to be honest with you, it takes a lot of courage to play this golf course in itself. Then, when you have got Tiger running rampant out there on it too, that makes it that much more difficult.

HAL SUTTON: I feel for Tiger in a lot of ways. He is living in a glass cage. He does a spectacular job of handling himself. We all know what a special player he is. But at the same time, you know, to a small degree I had some of the same expectations put on me, and he handles it so very well for such a young guy. Week after week, he is the man to beat. And I just -- I caution everybody, including him, that the game is still the biggest person.

HAL SUTTON: I have been fighting it all week. I would think everybody in here -- we have had our boxing gloves on. You all just don't realize the magnitude that you all play this up to be. I mean, it is like -- we are not duking it out out there. The other day I read in the paper where it said that we were going to get down in the dirt and fight. If I said that, what I really meant, I guess you all want us to get in the dirt and fight. You know, we are human beings; we have hit millions of practice balls, whatever we have hit, in our life. We are just trying to go in there and put it in the hole the quickest; that is all we are trying to do. We are trying to do it in a respectful and honorable way. He is trying to do the same thing that I am trying to do. That is the way a person's got to look at it. That is the way he is looking at it.

HAL SUTTON: I will need it because I have never played very good at Augusta so, you know, I can't think to Augusta right now.

HAL SUTTON: Right at the top. I think any time you win on this golf course you have had to overcome your nerves, I mean, you have had to show courage. And then for Tiger to be the one that I was playing in the last group and having to beat, that makes it very special.

HAL SUTTON: 9-iron, I had 148 yards I think it was, or I don't remember exactly what the yardage was, but it was, you know, just a smooth one was all I was trying to do. Just trying to put a good swing on it. That is what I have said you have got to do on that hole every time, and you can just -- after the club leaves -- after the ball leaves the club, I don't have any control over it. And my only control is to make sure that I make a good swing and I knew that I had made a good swing. So after that it was out of my control.

HAL SUTTON: 8 was the most, by far, the most difficult. Looking back on it, was the most important too. Because Tiger I am sure thought the same thing I did whenever I looked up there and saw my ball -- I couldn't stand in it. Well, I got him now. When I hit that bunker shot, it surprised us all, I think. It surprised me included. That is not one that we practice on very much, so you know, then making that putt on top of it sent a message that I was going to do what I had to do in order to stay there.

HAL SUTTON: Well, yeah. That is right. I did lose my swing and I was embarrassed. Now you and I go out on the range, I'd a still made you look pretty bad. But you know, we are talking world greatest players here and they are all fairly discriminating about what they think a golf shot ought to be. So I didn't -- I was a little embarrassed to be on the driving range with them. Did that answer your question?

HAL SUTTON: Well, I used to take the club back a little shut and hit it low and consequently a lot of people thought I needed to hit the ball higher in order to play this game at the very highest level. I started reading all that stuff in the newspapers and magazines and so I started seeking out somebody that everybody thought was a good teacher. I went through the whole gamut of what everybody thought was a good teacher and by the time I got all those confusing thoughts in my head, I was pretty well wasted. It was like a computer that had overload on it, just see all the smoke coming out of the top on it. That is what was going on with me.

HAL SUTTON: Well, yes, I was, as a matter of fact. Because the worst thing that I could have done there was making aggressive play and hit it in the water or over correct and hit it way left trying to keep from hitting it in the water. I felt like it was going to be a 3-shot hole for me unless I absolutely killed the drive off that tee. I really wasn't going to swing at it hard enough to do that. In answer to your question, yes.

HAL SUTTON: 6-iron.

HAL SUTTON: Well, I don't know. That is hard to say. I felt like -- I will tell you the truth, when he hit it in there I knew he had a hard putt even if we had putted out yesterday, he'd have it a lot harder yesterday than he did this morning because the greens were pretty fast. Had to ride the ridge the whole way. Then it fell off on the left-hand side. 3-putts work sometimes in a lot of different ways, could have made him really mad and he played 3-under from there in. So we could speculate on that 'til next year in time and we might not know the real answer on that.

HAL SUTTON: He is still not bigger than the game. You know, you need to do what you need to do but you all need to do what I need to do too.

HAL SUTTON: You all didn't give me a chance. You might have wanted me to win but you truly didn't think I could win and, you know, I think -- I would caution all the other players and everything else too, Tiger is a human being; he is a good human being. I mean -- I don't want anything made out of this any different than it is. He is a good human being, a fantastic player. But he is not bigger than the game. He has done spectacular things. No way -- I am not accusing you of anything, basically, I am saying that I -- I could not get caught up in your trap. That is what I am saying. I was fighting not getting caught up in what you all were saying because if I believed -- if I bought into what you were saying then how could I convince myself that I could beat him. Do you see what I am saying? That is what I had to do. I had to convince myself that coming down that stretch I could do anything that he was going to do. I was going to match everything that he did.

HAL SUTTON: Match Play is a different story. You know what? That shot I hit on 17 the other day, if we had been in Match Play, that would have been one hole; not three shots; that is a whole different scenario.

HAL SUTTON: A great deal of satisfaction. You know, to lead any golf tournament from start to finish is a dream come true for any young man that has grown up in this anywhere in the world playing golf all of his life, but to lead THE PLAYERS Championship from start to finish and to be able to play in the final round with Tiger Woods in the last group and beat him head-to-head, I can't not paint that dream any prettier.

HAL SUTTON: Well, it could be related to confidence. I mean, as I have been beginning to play better, you gain your confidence and you begin to expect more of yourself, but when it comes right down to it, you put yourself in that situation, you think the best-laid plans in the world, you get to the 17th hole, you got one-shot lead; all of a sudden now and the last time you played it you made triple bogey on it. It's like, okay, let's reach down inside.

HAL SUTTON: I was never angry and if you all took me as being angry, then you all misunderstood me. I am worried about where the game of golf is going. I mean, our fan base, we have got new fans that we have never had before. They are great fans and we want them in the game, but they don't understand the game. I don't want us to lose sight of golf as a gentlemen's game. It is a respectful game, I have to respect the guys that laid the groundwork for me to do what I am doing, the guys that walked these fairways ahead of me. I mean, I just don't want us to lose sight of that fact. I mean, I think we have to educate in every way we can, the new fan base. We want them. We love them. We want everybody to enjoy this game. That is what this game is about is enjoying this game, but let's not lose sight of it.

HAL SUTTON: You sound like my little girl: "Not me, not me, not me." (laughter).

HAL SUTTON: You know what --

HAL SUTTON: It's what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Can you answer that for me? That is a pretty tough question, isn't it? I am just -- I caution in every way, you know, those guys got caught up in the trap, a lot of the time exactly what I am talking about and have been talking about this week, those guys were reading all the stuff that was going on; that is why they made those remarks. I was not going to read it. I was not going to listen to it. Because I had to go beat this guy. If I am going to put him in a god-like scenario, it's going -- the golf course is hard enough in the first place. I have shared dinner with this guy, we have broke bread together, you know, so I mean, I like Tiger a lot. I think Tiger likes me. I respect Tiger a great deal. But I mean, if it comes down to he or I as Jackie Burke put it is, if they put us in a rubber room, one of us has got to the go down and damn sure ain't going to be me. That is Jackie Burke's words to me; that is not my words to Tiger.

HAL SUTTON: Man, I have been to hell on earth before. My game went to the bleakest, blackest spot you can think of. I always trying to head off a trouble spot. I saw that building as a trouble spot and that is why I wouldn't fall into that trap.

HAL SUTTON: I tell you what, I didn't pray to Tiger, but I did a little talking to ole Payne Stewart this week, just to ask for a little help. I didn't know if he had anything to do with it, but I said, man, I know you know how to do this, so give me a little help if you can. I miss Payne a lot. I thought about him a lot this week. So it does make it gratifying when the old guys win one. There has been -- I said it out there, Tim Finchem and his staff has done a spectacular job. If you all are wondering why a lot of older guys are playing, it is because of that fitness trailer that says "HealthSouth" out there and the great physical trainers that we have got. I can go in there and in 30 minutes they can make me feel like I am ten years younger. It is all the extra work that they put in to getting things like that for us out there. That is why is there is a lot of guys in there 40s playing like they are in their 30.

HAL SUTTON: Yeah, I felt like I backed into the one I won in '83. I was just in the right place at the right time. I birdied 16 and 17 and everybody else was dumping it in the water on 17 and 18 and nobody was expecting me to win it in that stretch and then all sudden I upped and won it. This was a whole different scenario this time for me to win. I was basically in the lead. There might have been a hole or two somewhere along the stretch that I wasn't in the lead, but basically in the lead the whole time and having to fight Tiger off.