FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 10, 1999

Hal Sutton

HAL SUTTON: I played good. I hit a lot of really good iron shots today and hit the ball close most of the day; so, that's why I was able to make a lot of birdies. Other than that, it's just real hot, guys and girls.

HAL SUTTON: I doubt it. Actually, I think it's a lot hotter in the morning here. Reason being is there's a lot of dew on the ground, and that's no breeze at all. And I'll tell you what, I didn't have a dry thread on me when we made the turn. And I have a few dry threads on me now. On 2, I hit a 9 about 10 feet and made that. On 6, I hit a 6-iron about 12 feet and made that. Next hole, I hit a 6 about four feet and made that. 9, I hit a 9-iron about five feet and made it. 13, I hit a 8-iron about two feet and made that. 14, I hit a 5-iron about a foot. Made that. 16, I missed the green in two to the left and chipped up about four feet and made that. 18, I hit an 8-iron about two feet and made it in.

HAL SUTTON: No, not really. I've been hitting the ball really good lately. And for some reason, I'm just -- I've been a little bit off. I've been having a lot of 10- and 12- and 14-footers and not anything really close, and today I hit it really close. I hit several close that resulted in pars that I didn't even tell you about.

HAL SUTTON: Let me think about it. 24 putts.

HAL SUTTON: Well, I think I am playing as good or better than I ever have been, and I think the reason for it is that there's just a lot of contentness in my life right now. I've got a great wife and three beautiful little girls. And just it feels like your future is all in front of you and you're excited about tomorrow. Couple years ago, I went back to working with a guy I worked with in college, and my golf swing feels really good to me. And I wake up every morning wanting to go to the golf course. So I think that's the biggest reason.

HAL SUTTON: Floyd Horgen.

HAL SUTTON: He's in the -- he's in Bozeman, Montana. Cool up there.

HAL SUTTON: I didn't really want to quit this game on the note that I was on, basically. I wanted to put forth the effort and see if I had it in me to get it back. You know, I lost my focus there for a while and didn't pay attention to the game like I should have and ceased to grow in the game. That doesn't mean just in my own daily efforts. That means in just, you know, trying to learn more about the game. It takes a long time to learn this game. I'm still learning something every day. I always shy away from somebody if they tell me they think they know everything about this game. Because I think I know a lot about it, but I'm still learning something new every day.

HAL SUTTON: Well, I had not really thought about what I learned today yet. I haven't had time to reflect on it yet.

HAL SUTTON: You know, I can't answer that, really. I think the greens are really nice right now. They are not spiking up very much. I don't think the guys this afternoon are going to dislike the greens at all. Personally, I'd like to be a little cooler than I was to begin with. So, you know, if you're trying to make it out to be an advantage and we had the easy way of it, I'm not going to fall for that, if that's what you're looking for.

HAL SUTTON: (Laughs.)

HAL SUTTON: What goes through my mind when I see that, I feel sorry for people in that situation, because inevitably, I -- everybody runs through the spot in life where they are trying to live up to everybody else's expectations. Everybody is always telling them what they expect out of them, and almost you lose sight of your own expectations. And really, all that's important is what you expect of yourself. If you're living up to your own expectations, that's all that matters. I hear a bunch of people say that because you do things that are in the public and all that, you owe it to the public. I'm sorry, I don't think that's the case. I think we owe it to ourselves to live up to our own expectations. Maybe someone else sets their expectations higher than you've set yours and you're a failure to them. That doesn't make you a failure. That's what you hear a lot in that position. You know, well, you're actually failing. Depends on whose expectations you're looking at. You know, if you're playing badly, like I did there for a while, I was not living up to my own expectations, much less anybody else's. But I'd hate to be in that position again.

HAL SUTTON: Well, you know, I think I was looking all the time. I was looking for happiness, so to speak. I think one of the things that really happened to me was I had a little bit too much success too soon, and I was one of the first few that had gone through that type of success at that age since someone like Nicklaus had come along, basically. And I guess being a kid, I thought the game was a lot easier than it was and I just didn't pay attention to it like I should. I was a good example for some of these guys to date because the game is not that easy. So they had better pay attention; a lot of 40-something-year-olds that are trying to get up to the top. I think happiness is what we all strive for. And when you're young, you think first of all, you think a car is going to make you happy, and then you think a home is going to make you happy, and one of these days you wake up and you realize that nothing material is going to make me happy. It's going to be of my own efforts every day. That's what's going to make me happy. You've got to look inside for happiness.

HAL SUTTON: I've still got them, but I haven't ridden them much. I rode one last year, I think and that's probably about how many I've ridden this year.

HAL SUTTON: I hope. So honestly I think I'm playing as good or better than I ever have. I'm looking forward to next week. I've had a lot of success at Pinehurst. It was a long time ago, back when I as an amateur. Right now, I'd like to make the Ryder Cup team this year. That's really important. Winning a tournament, I don't care. This week would be a really nice one to win. It's so hard too win out here, I'm not going to be particular.

HAL SUTTON: '87.

HAL SUTTON: You know, it would mean a lot. There's not been a lot of times in this game that you see a guy make it, and then come back and make it 12 years later. There's a lot of satisfaction in hitting rock bottom and coming back.

HAL SUTTON: Thank you.