WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 27, 1999

Hal Sutton

HAL SUTTON: Well, it was a long day. I started on 4 this morning. Started with a bogey. But the day got better from there. I thought the golf course was really wet. I thought it actually would lend itself to more mud in the afternoon round than it did this morning. Not so much at the end of the round, but at the beginning of the round. I don't know why that was. Seems like there was more mud on the ball this afternoon. The golf course is in good shape. It's just long and wet, and that's a lot of holes to walk around. And this is a long, wet golf course.

HAL SUTTON: Started on the 4th hole.

HAL SUTTON: Not really. Slight breeze is all we had. Every now and then would be a little bit of a gust, but not a lot. But I noticed the golf course being dryer as we went on with it. If we don't get any more rain by Sunday, it won't be firm, but it will be much dryer than it has been.

HAL SUTTON: One reason why I'm so tired is I was sick last night. And I didn't eat anything all day long because I was afraid I was going to lose it. When you get about four hours of sleep last night and you've got to go 33 holes without any food, that's pretty tiring.

HAL SUTTON: No, I don't know. Last week my whole family had a stomach virus. I don't think that's it. It's been too long ago. I think maybe I just ate something that didn't agree with me.

HAL SUTTON: In the afternoon round? Let's see. 4, I hit a 2-iron in there about eight or ten feet and made that. 6, I hit it short of the green there in the left rough and didn't get up-and-down for a bogey there. 8, I hit a little 8-iron in there about 12 feet and made that. And then 17, I hit 7-iron past the hole about 30 feet and made that. Unexpected. And then 18, I hit a 5-iron about three feet and made that.

HAL SUTTON: It doesn't show on that card, but my puppies were hurting, I'll tell that you right now. I started pulling one more club than I needed and just kind of soft-pedaled it coming in.

HAL SUTTON: 12. I'm looking forward to it. But I don't want to get to Boston too early. We're in Akron, and we're playing an awful big golf tournament here. I'd prefer to stay right here in Akron with my mind right now.

HAL SUTTON: (Laughs.)

HAL SUTTON: You know, you basically get the premier players in the world here. I don't know how to put this, but Firestone is one of the finest golf courses in the United States -- in the world, for that matter. And you put the finest players in the world on the finest golf course playing for a $5 million purse, that's pretty exciting to me. That's where it's at. I don't want to be anywhere else but right here, right now. With a little more rest than I've got right now.

HAL SUTTON: 14 tee, I tried to hit one a little bit hard there and hit it in the left rough. And I thought: Man, do not swing it harder from here on out. I was kind of wallering on the ball a little bit. I couldn't get my arm to go through this fast enough. My arms would go through there fast, but not my body. When I hit that one, I knew I had better slow things down. I made par there. Hit a punch shot through the trees and made a shot about two, three inches from the hole and thought: Let's slow down and try to get this thing in.

HAL SUTTON: You know, in a lot of ways, I played better this year than I played last year. I said this repeatedly. There's a lot of luck involved in winning. You know, whether it's me having a little good luck or someone else having a bad break at the right time or whatever else. You know, I don't wish that on anybody. But I'm saying that's what it takes in order to win. There's so little difference between this year and last year, for me. I'm trying just as well as I did, if not better, really, and I haven't produced a win. Sure been trying to.

HAL SUTTON: I just slowed everything down. You know, you don't turn your body as fast. You don't swing your arms as fast. You just try to soft-pedal it. I do that a lot, even when I feel good. There will be times that I don't really like the bigger club, and I'll pull another club and three-quarter it. And that's basically the way I played all the shots coming in. I think everybody in this field right here has done that a lot in their life.

HAL SUTTON: No. Because I've actually played well. I've hit the ball where I wanted it most of the two-day -- or three holes yesterday and 33 holes today. I've had the ball where I wanted it. And I've missed a lot of putts that, I was all over the hole on. I hit a lot of good putts that didn't go in the hole. I'm pleased where I'm at, but I'm not really surprised.

HAL SUTTON: After I hit that tee shot on 14. The last four holes, basically.

HAL SUTTON: I birdied 2. 2-putted. And bogeyed 4. Birdied 8. Bogeyed -- I'm drawing a blank. You can tell I'm tired. Bogeyed 13 this morning. Birdied 15.

HAL SUTTON: Bed. I'm going to bed.

HAL SUTTON: I don't know. I'm not going to eat much, because I still don't feel like I want to eat much.

HAL SUTTON: No, not really, because I birdied the last two holes, and turned it into a real good round. I actually started out that second round not too good. I hit it in the left bunker off the tee on 1, and hit it in bunker off 2 and hit it up on the green and it kicked back into the bunker. Didn't make birdie there. So I hit a couple of tee shots there right off the bat that were a little uncharacteristic for me. Somehow got it together and made some pars. I couldn't really make many birdies.

HAL SUTTON: Yeah. Looking forward to the weekend.