THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 10, 2000

Hal Sutton

HAL SUTTON: Started on 10 and first birdie came at 14, the par 5, I hit driver, driver right in front of the green chipped it about a foot. 15, I hit 4-wood on the green about 25 feet, made it. 17, I hit 7-iron about ten feet, made it. 1, I hit a little lob wedge in there about a foot. 2, I hit a pitching wedge about twelve feet, made that. 4, hit it left of the green there, par 5 in two and hit kind of a weak wedge shot in there about 18 feet, made the putt.

HAL SUTTON: Not really changes. I just -- I worked harder on staying in my spine angle longer and sometimes you get a little lax in that and it is easier to come out of it and I don't think that is what I was doing - I was hitting some shots left because of it - not hitting iron shots as accurately as I should have. So I worked on that last week and seems to be paying off.

HAL SUTTON: He said the wind didn't come early, but we played about -- I was in the fourth group off; by the time we got to No. 5 the wind was up. A little unlike yesterday, they played in no wind yesterday morning. I am kind of hoping that wind stays up otherwise they get a big advantage because we played in it yesterday afternoon too.

HAL SUTTON: Sure, it is. Quite a lot.

HAL SUTTON: I think it is playing quite a bit more difficult today. Tough pins that are going to get hard to get out there. They were hard for us to get to this morning and the greens were soft. As the wind keeps blowing all day long, greens get a little bit firmer, they are going to be harder to get to.

HAL SUTTON: This is the PGA TOUR, man, they are going to find edges. I expect them to do that. I was a little surprised yesterday at a couple of the tees. Tees were up a little bit yesterday on a few holes that I was surprised about. They didn't have them up today. They had them all back, so�..

HAL SUTTON: Well, I was happy to have played well that week, but, you know, I won the week before the tournament started there. I took the week off before the Ryder Cup and won at the Canadian Open, so I was playing good before I went to the Ryder Cup. A lot of people want to say that was a big confidence boost, all that sort of stuff, I went there expecting to play good. I felt like my game was really good and I was excited about being on that team after a 12-year absence of being off of that team. I was very motivated to play. So I guess in a roundabout way, it didn't hurt my confidence, but I felt like I was playing good before I went in there.

HAL SUTTON: Well, yeah. After the U.S. started getting beat, the attention towards the Ryder Cup was much greater because both sides expected to win or wanted to win. So, yeah, the following of the Ryder Cup has got a pretty good size fan base.

HAL SUTTON: Everyday there somebody mentions the Ryder Cup to me everyday, yep. I can't tell you how many times I have had somebody holler out thanks for the Ryder Cup. It is a neat feeling in that regard. People are appreciative.

HAL SUTTON: I will never forget that down time, you know, I don't know how close I was to quitting. I didn't quit; that is the only thing I could say.

HAL SUTTON: That is hard to put a number on it. I am not sure, you know, the players are better, the equipment is better, the golf courses are better, all of that equates to lower scores. The depth of the Tour is certainly much better than it was whenever I first came out here in the early '80s. But I don't really don't know what the cut would have been then. That is hard to say. It would have probably been a couple of shots higher so -- is that a fair assessment? That is probably not the exact answer you are looking for, but I don't know it. I am not God, I can't pull that score out.

HAL SUTTON: More players that, I think, have a chance to win. There are a lot more players that they get in front of you that you think it is harder to beat them. Back then, there weren't as many players that if they got in front of you would be worried about it.

HAL SUTTON: There are just more players, yeah. I don't think my confidence has ever been higher than it is right now, so -- and I still know there is a lot of players out there that can sure beat me if I let my skirt fly up.

HAL SUTTON: Well, every time you see a drive going in the middle of the fairway and every time you see an iron go where you want it to be and every time you see that ball go in that hole like a rabbit going to his little burrowing hole, that cut-off level keeps raising up, that bar keeps raising up. That is not just for me. That is for every player in this field, you know, that is what builds confidence.

HAL SUTTON: No. I am thrilled every time somebody says something to me about it because it was a lot of fun to be part of. I have won 11 tournaments on the Tour and a lot of other ones in amateur golf and nothing measures up to that week in my mind. That is my greatest moment in golf. It is okay for people sharing in that moment with me.

HAL SUTTON: Playing hard right now trying to make the next team. Right now we have got The Presidents Cup team coming up though. So that comes first.