THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY AND MERCEDES-BENZ

October 30, 1998

Hal Sutton

HAL SUTTON: We've had nice weather. This wind made it a little tricky out there today, though. But I've played good, I've kept the ball on the fairway, hit a lot of greens, tried to stay real patient. That's been the key to me staying under par.

HAL SUTTON: Same clubs, still love them, they're doing the trick for me (laughter). Actually, I've been real happy with them. I started playing with them at Hilton Head; wouldn't dream of changing them. The ball has been great for me. I switched to the Strata ball early in the year. It's been an awesome ball; reacts the way I want it to, even when the wind is blowing. That's key.

HAL SUTTON: They're making me a set of new ones right now. I've been playing so well with this set, I figured that was an off-season project, not a during-the-season project.

HAL SUTTON: Maybe.

HAL SUTTON: I thought it was quite a bit tougher, actually. We had to think a lot more. The wind was blowing quite a bit. I tell you something I noticed today. I was kind of in the middle of the round yesterday. There was a lot of shadows out there later on in the day on the greens, which I always think shadows make it a little bit harder to see the breaks.

HAL SUTTON: I said to Vijay when he walked in - we were sitting in there having breakfast this morning - I said, "I didn't realize there was a 63 on that golf course. You opened my eyes." I guess there is, in the right kind of conditions. But obviously, like you said, no one in their right mind would think that kind of pace would keep up. Everybody is going to miss a fairway or two, you're going to be wedging it out if you do. If you do happen to get lucky enough to get a good lie to go to green, it's still not going to be an easy par.

HAL SUTTON: Yeah. I've been real confident with my game for the second half of this year. I mean, everything's not always going to be good, you're not always going to get the results you're looking for. Even when you're playing well, you're not going to get that. But don't lose sight at the same time of what the overall game is like. You know, I had a couple of setbacks the last couple of weeks. I got tired, missed the cut at Kingsmill and Las Vegas by a shot, but at the same time I knew I was still playing good. There wasn't any reason for it; I just got tired. That's why I withdrew from Disney last week. That gave me a lot of confidence.

HAL SUTTON: Well, everybody's different with how they deal with setbacks like that. On a golf course like this, when you shot 7-under the first day, that's only the 3rd hole you played, you got to realize that there's an awful lot of game there, there's an awful lot of holes left, and you got a lead to start with. Vijay is a great player. I had no doubt he'd put it back together, which it looks like he did.

HAL SUTTON: I hilt a little 8-iron in there about three feet. 9, I hit a 4-wood to the front of the green, about a foot off the green, 2-putted. 11, probably made about a 30-footer there. It was one of those bombs that breaks about five or six feet that you sure don't expect to make.

HAL SUTTON: 7-iron. 15, I hit 3-iron in there, about 25 feet left of the hole, and 2-putted.

HAL SUTTON: 9? The eagle putt?

HAL SUTTON: Front edge of the pin was 14 back, I think. What is that, 42 feet?

HAL SUTTON: Well, I'm happy with this year. Regardless of what happens the next two days, I feel like I've played real well. You know, I've gotten some good results at times, and some results I felt like should have been better at other times. That's golf, that's why we like this game, that's why we keep coming back every day, because we know we can improve on what we did yesterday, regardless of what we've shot. I've shot 60 before and walked away and thought, Why did I miss that putt? That's what this game is all about, you know.

HAL SUTTON: Thank you.