GREATER GREENSBORO CHRYSLER CLASSIC

April 23, 2000

Hal Sutton

HAL SUTTON: Well, thanks. I felt very fortunate to finish on top. It was pretty close out there for a while. The golf course played tough this weekend I thought. It was hard to make birdies and hard to keep the ball in the fairway. I felt very fortunate. I don't know what else to say. I finally drove it a little bit better.

HAL SUTTON: Yeah, I think we were right there at the point where -- in fact, when I hit the ball out of the rough, I was glad my ball was a little further from the hole than his, because I wanted to be able to hit that shot into the green first. I had a real good yardage, but the ball was 6 inches above my feet with a left pin. That makes it easier for you to pull the ball off that stance. I had to hit it hard, too. Had 128 yards uphill hitting a pitching wedge. I was trying to make sure I got it left, but I didn't want to get it in the left fringe. When I saw it was ten feet left of the hole, putting straight uphill, that was good.

HAL SUTTON: I don't ever think about what kind of score it's going to keep, I think that adds pressure to what you're trying to do. The golf course played tougher this weekend than it did the first two days. When this golf course dries out, it gets difficult because a lot of fairways are sloping, and it makes them tighter and the rough is deep. 17, I had 180 yards uphill and I hit a 6-iron high, and it went 15 feet. So the greens were getting firm at the end. I really don't think about scores, what it's going to take.

HAL SUTTON: Well, I don't want to sit up here and act really weird and say, "Well, I should have got this break or that break," or whatever. But I felt like my tee ball was going to stay up on top. I hit a 4-wood for that purpose, and it eased over the top of the hill. So that made me have to layup. And that third shot just played really short. I couldn't believe how short it played. And I was dead from there. The main thing there was to make sure you make 6 and don't make 7. If you try to leave it -- try to hit it close, you might leave it in the fringe and not get it up-and-down from there. So 6 was the worst score I wanted to make from there. I was aggravated by that. That was a gift, there.

HAL SUTTON: Well, it's decent walk from the 13th green to the 14th tee. All I told myself was, "I've still got the lead, and let's go drive it in the fairway." And I had trouble driving it in the 14th fairway this week, so that was really a big drive when I drove it in the fairway on 14.

HAL SUTTON: Well, I hadn't really thought about it until you said that just then. But Tiger Woods sets the expectations high, doesn't he? If you want to play in the same game with him, you have to elevate your own thinking.

HAL SUTTON: I'm trying to. I'm certainly trying to.

HAL SUTTON: Well, I felt like I was playing good prior to that. But when you have a stretch like that, you feel like things are beginning to come together. A lot of times as a player you see your game evolving in the direction that you want it to evolve before maybe the public sees it. Maybe your scores aren't indicative of the way you played. But inside, you, as a player, know that, hey, it's coming, just keep being patient. And I felt like prior to that stretch it was coming. And then I did have a real good stretch through here, and that kind of let me know it was there.

HAL SUTTON: Every putt I had was a straight downhill putt, fast as greased lightning. And I never had anything that I could be aggressive with. One of the things that made it really tough is that the greens increased in speed by two feet, at least, on the weekend. And when that happens and you're used to some other speed, then all of a sudden it makes it more difficult. And I just didn't feel like I ever had a putt that I could do anything with. I felt like I was having to be protective. Like the putt where I 3-putted on 3, I thought I'd try to leave that putt short, and it goes five feet by. They were quick.

HAL SUTTON: That was my goal at the beginning of the year to win a major championship. I think I've already won the hardest one there is to win, but you don't call it a major. So I think as far as all the players are concerned, I think the TPC is a major. But that's not the one I had my sights set on, since you all don't see it that way.

HAL SUTTON: I like to see rough. That's one of the things -- although this week I didn't drive it as well as I'd like to. Maybe I'd like to have seen shorter rough this week. When I arrive at a tournament and I see a lot of rough, I like that usually.

HAL SUTTON: You mean you all noticed? (Laughter.)

HAL SUTTON: I probably looked pretty boring out there. I tried to keep looking down at the ground and keep emotions on a very even keel. When you're waiting on people a lot, your mind tends to wander and you've got to really focus in order to win a tournament. And I was trying to stay focused. I was trying to keep my mind from wandering during those times. That's your answer.

HAL SUTTON: Well, the second time around is a little sweeter, because I've experienced a lot of things now that I hadn't experienced at that time. I know just how humbling this game can be and how fleeting it can be and how you can't take anything in life for granted. So because of those reasons, I'm humbled by being able to have this resurgence in my career, I guess.

HAL SUTTON: Yeah, but, you know, you try not to get caught up in that kind of thing, because I've got to leave here and go home tonight and then head to Houston on Tuesday morning. And all of a sudden we'll be at another event, and it will be time to play again. And if you get caught up too much in what other people are saying about you, you forget about what your job is. And sooner or later it's gone. And that's that fleeting part that I'm talking about. I tell you what, with where I've been in life and where my career is concerned, I can't allow myself to think that way.

HAL SUTTON: I didn't mean to chastise you all. I'm sorry, I owe you an apology (laughter.) I'll say this one more time: Nobody is bigger than the game. The game is a great game. It's a game that I've enjoyed most of my life. There was a little time there where I didn't. I think we owe the respect to the people that pave the way in order for us to be where we are today. There's a lot of hard work that's gone into the efforts of where the Tour is at right now and where it's going in the future. And I think we, as players, have a responsibility to the game itself to be respectful. And I think maybe the media has a responsibility to be the same. And I don't know, you've got to deal with that. I have to deal with my issues of being respectful to the game. And I don't know what to say other than that. Maybe I'm avoiding your question. But I just don't think anybody is bigger than the game. Jack Nicklaus was my idol growing up. And he went about his business and won many, many golf tournaments, and he just never seemed bigger than the game. Maybe I wasn't old enough to read between the lines in the newspaper. Maybe he was made out to be bigger than the game, I don't know.

HAL SUTTON: Well, I don't know. I enjoy being in that position. If you think I'm good enough to win that tournament, well, then that's great. I'm excited to be in that position. I'm looking forward to going to Pebble Beach. What can I say? That's a tricky question.

HAL SUTTON: I think it will be better as an open venue. I didn't play in '90 or whenever Tom won. I was there in '82. It plays firmer during that time, and I like that. I don't like it when it plays really, really soft. It's the greatest place in the world. If God says you have one day to play, Pebble Beach is where I want to go.

HAL SUTTON: Did you all get together and ask these questions? You all are trying to build a rivalry here, aren't you? I can sense this (laughter.) You know what? Tiger Woods is a great player. And he makes his presence felt everywhere he goes. If you all think that I deserve to be mentioned in that same paragraph, then I feel good about where my game is at right now.

HAL SUTTON: My gameplan was to hit fairways and greens and try to make some birdies where I could, but not try to force the issue anywhere. When you start with a three-shot lead, I said Friday that I felt challenged by that, and I do -- I mean, I did. It's very difficult to go out there and not play conservative and wait on them to come to you. These guys are good out here, they're going to come to you if you do that. I really wasn't trying to play conservative, it just worked out where I didn't do any better than I did this weekend. I played hard; I couldn't go any lower.

HAL SUTTON: No, he said he sent a flower out for me to smell it. I didn't get it, I guess. Anyway, he told me he thought I was going to lose it out there. He was worried about me, that's what he said.

HAL SUTTON: 3, I hit a 7-iron in there about 20 feet behind the hole and thought I made the first putt, and it goes about 5 feet by, and I miss it coming back. 6, I hit a 7-iron about 15 feet behind the hole and made that. 10, I hit a pitching wedge about 10 feet and made that. 13, I guess you all saw, I hit a sand wedge over the green and couldn't get it up-and-down and missed it from 18 feet probably. 15, I hit the pitching wedge about 10 feet left of the hole and made that.

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