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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 5, 2010Hal SuttonPONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA LAURA HILL: Let me introduce two-time PLAYERS Championship winner Hal Sutton, who is celebrating the ten-year anniversary of his infamous, famous, ubiquitous "be the right club today," phrase, which you said you get asked about even when you're not on the golf course. Maybe just talk about how this is kind of bringing back all those memories to the fore. HAL SUTTON: I remember being in this room before when I actually had a golf club in my hand quite a bit. It's great memories here for me. I'm excited to be able to recall some of those memories by being here. The phrase "be the right club today," was just a moment of passion. It was never practiced or anything else. It was just what came out of my mouth when I saw it in the air, you know. I can relate this to y'all, I think, with Tom Watson's shot last year at the British Open. He hit the shot that he wanted to hit, and basically what I was saying is don't surprise me. That's how close -- that's how much we're splitting hairs out here. You can do everything just right, and it can still be taken away from you. So that's where that phrase came from. Q. Are you amazed that ten years later that phrase seems to have a life of its own now? Does it seem even more important to you now and as big now as it was ten years ago? HAL SUTTON: I can't -- I quit for five years. The thing that surprised me the most was that I couldn't touch a hole from three feet when I first came back and then how much people used the phrase "be the right club today." There was one stretch last year where I was so shocked by it, that one month I counted every day how many people said something to me about it. The least number of times was ten, and the most was 36 times in a day. I had quit the game for five years. I couldn't believe, but people use that all the time. Q. It's funny that Laura just said it's been ten years. On one hand it doesn't seem like ten years; on the other hand it seems like a lot longer than ten years. What's it seem like to you? HAL SUTTON: It seems like all ten years to me. I've lived them all. It's -- yeah, it's been a while. I miss playing this golf course. This is a great golf course. Full of drama. I mean, for players, you know, that's what you strive to be in those moments where the drama's high. This golf course creates a lot of that. Q. Speaking of the golf course, how has the golf course evolved and changed in your words? How difficult was it for you to adapt to each of those changes and the way the golf course has changed over the years? HAL SUTTON: The first year that I won it was '83, which was the second year that it was ever played. I can guarantee you it was a harder golf course then than it is now. They started softening the golf course up and for better. I mean, it's a much better golf course now than it was then. But that's like all golf courses. I mean, golf courses that are brand-new have to be tweaked for quite some time. I don't think we ever put the term greatness on anything until Father Time has had his say-so with it. But I think the golf course is much better now. I think they've sand-capped the fairways. It's much firmer now. One thing that you can do around here a lot more so than you could back then is you can use the ground to maneuver the ball as well as you can use the fact that you can curve the shot. Like I never aimed at the left pin on number 4. I always used the slope. And there are several greens out here where you would use slope to get the ball closer to the hole. Q. Are you here all week or are you just in for the day? HAL SUTTON: Just for the day. So if you got something you want to ask, you better get it now (laughing). Q. Just wondered how many times you've been back? You know, you didn't play for five years. Is this your first time back? HAL SUTTON: Well, I came when they opened the clubhouse. Then they unveiled the painting. Actually, I think this is the third time I've been here. So, yeah, third time since then, I think. And I played a few years after that so... Q. When you walked in here today, did you say, well, I sure wish I brought my clubs? HAL SUTTON: No, I didn't say that (laughing). No, I didn't say that. I mean, I'll live with the memories that I have at TPC. They're fond, for the most part, and there's many of them. What I would say to any player playing this golf course, there can be a really bad hole. The year I beat Tiger in 2000, I tripled on 17. I'll give you a fact. The year I won in '83, I birdied that hole all four days. The next year I won it, I played it in 4-over. So you don't have to play that hole dynamic to win this golf tournament. Q. There is a local young man that you probably just met, the standard bearer. What was that like and what was your conversation with him? HAL SUTTON: I just asked him what he'd been doing for the last ten years, you know. He told me he was a Florida Gator and teaching now. But it was nice to be united with him. I told Laura she'd really done something if she could go back to '83 and find that standard bearer, too. You know, life moves on. We all do different things. It's kind of fun to be reunited with people who you didn't know very well but were part of the moment. He probably heard me say, "be the right club today." Did you hear it? Q. Yes, sir. Did you run into folks like that that were a part of it? HAL SUTTON: A lady that I met at -- she picked me up at the airport today. She said, you rented my house in 2000 whenever you won. So you do run back into people that you had acquaintances with earlier. Q. Can I just clarify, Laura, where were you when hal won in '83? LAURA HILL: Do you want me to answer that? HAL SUTTON: He asked the question. LAURA HILL: Seven. HAL SUTTON: Where were you, Doug? Q. I was sitting at home watching it on TV rooting you on at home. HAL SUTTON: Oh, you were? Okay. Q. I don't know. I wanted to see if you could draw any comparisons with this and Augusta in terms of leads being saved heading into the back nine and how they differ? I think it could be argued that leads aren't safe on either course, but in what capacity would you say? HAL SUTTON: Well, I think the parallel here is there is a lot of opportunity on the back nine here as there is at Augusta. But there's also a lot of ways to lose those opportunities too. I think both back nines are filled with drama, and drama is highs and lows. You know, eagles, if we're going to equate that to golf, it's eagles and doubles, you know. Hard to make a bogey if you hit it in the water on 17. Hard to make a bogey if you hit it in the water on 12. I think the difference here is that the drama can be on the last three holes and the drama usually unfolds at Augusta before it gets to the last three holes. So that's the difference. Q. Jack Nicklaus, you beat him in '83, right? HAL SUTTON: Well, not here. I beat him in the PGA in '83. Q. So do you tell that part of the story, too? I know "be the right club today," but Tiger and Jack and those are the guys you beat? HAL SUTTON: Yeah, maybe my two greatest wins. That says how old I am, I guess, or how long my career spanned. Went in the PGA, beat Jack by one, and then beating Tiger here, I beat him by one 17 years later. I look back in my career, and those are pretty high spots. I really looked up, I idolized Jack Nicklaus, and certainly the modern-day player of the world is Tiger Woods. So pretty fond moments. Q. His game in the last week has been a mess, missed the cut by eight, put a bunch of balls in the water here, playing with personal problems, marital problems. Give us an idea -- you had some ups and downs. Give us some ideas of when things at home aren't going well, how hard that is to play golf at the highest level? HAL SUTTON: Leave it to a Rude to ask the tough questions. Second time I've been interviewed by Rude today. Let me tell you, Tiger's facing his greatest challenge. Tiger meets every challenge with his head held high and knowing that he will overcome. He's had better control of his mind than almost any player I've ever watched play the game. But I think he's able to take his mind and put it in the moment better than anybody I've ever seen. It's very difficult and distracting to be able to take out of your mind things that are very important to you and do what he's got to do right now. I think he's facing his greatest challenge. I think he's probably got more equipment to do this with than anybody else does. But one of the things people don't realize, it takes selfishness to be great in this game. The most difficult part of being a great player is being able to compartmentalize when to be selfish and when not to be. I've seen very few great players that are able to walk off the 18th green and say okay, I'm going to leave selfish right here; I'm going to walk it over to the first tee tomorrow, and I'm going to pick it up in the scoring tent before I leave, and I'm going to be selfish for five hours, and I'm not even going to think about a soul or a thought or anything. And then I'm going to pick up balance on the 18th green when I turn my scorecard in. I'm going to pick up the word balance. That is the toughest thing in the world to do. You know, I'm sure Tiger will figure that out. He's figured everything else out. Q. How often do you play these days, and what is the state of your game? HAL SUTTON: You know what? I'm going to play full schedule on the Champions Tour this year. I've played five times and I think I've had two Top 10s. I'm close to playing really well, but I just can't quite get there. And I tell you, the hardest thing to do when you quit is remembering to try to win. You go back out there and you're participating. I'm trying to hit it in the fairway, I'm trying to hit it on the green, and I'm trying to make sure I don't three-putt, you know. That is the wrong way to play golf. You don't play golf that way. You've got to remind yourself, okay, I'm trying to make this putt. I get asked all the time. Y'all haven't asked me this question, I'm surprised. But I get asked all the time, what is the difference between the regular TOUR and the Champions Tour. The difference is you're trying to define your career out here, and you have defined your career by the time you get to the Champions Tour, and you're usually okay with it. So I think you do have better balance in your life when you get to the Champions Tour. I'm not as upset over bad round. And I realize I'm going to go to sleep tonight, and I'm going to eat tonight, and I'm going to get up tomorrow and go do the same thing. And I'm going to attempt to play better. If I do, great, mission accomplished. If I don't, I'll do it again tomorrow or the next day. I mean, it's a matter of life and death on the regular TOUR. One of the things, you walk down the driving range on the Champions Tour, and you see a guy doing something wrong. You think oh, I hope he keeps doing that. On the Champions Tour you might stop and say, hey, have you thought about this? It's just a different environment out there entirely. Q. Do you notice that players on the Champions Tour, do they seem more human to you, to follow up with what you're just saying? And a follow-up to that, when does the game face come off and that mellowing process start? What have you noticed with guys who tried to beat your brains in and vice versa? HAL SUTTON: I think it's a different time for different people. I think there are outside agencies in people's lives that affect when that happens. I don't think it's anything that has anything to do with golf. My good friend Jackie Burks uses the phrase all the time, "much wants more." Think about that statement for a minute. "Much wants more." When is enough? What is enough birdies? What is enough championships? You know, I think you get caught in the rat race out here of I want it all. Q. Not to put an age difference between the two of us, but it almost sounds like you're talking in a father-type figure. HAL SUTTON: I am a father (laughing). Q. Specifically to Tiger. But is the lack of a father in his life anything to do with this? Or a guidance? Because you're providing significant guidance for him that maybe he could follow if there was someone like that. HAL SUTTON: I'm not trying to be Tiger's father. I'm a fan. I'm a fan. First of all, let me define that. I'm a fan of the game first; I'm a fan of the PGA TOUR; and I'm a fan of Tiger Woods because he's, in my opinion, he and Jack Nicklaus are the two greatest players that have ever played the game. And I idolized Jack Nicklaus, and I respect Tiger Woods' game beyond -- I can't even define how much I respect it. I pull for Tiger to meet the challenge, and I'm sure he will. I think he's in a tough boat. I'm a daddy, too, you know. I think Tiger would like to reclaim a lot of the past. He's going to reclaim it. Let me tell you where he's going to reclaim it: On the golf course. That's where he's going to reclaim it. Q. If I could follow up. In baseball we hear these great audio calls, "Giants win the pennant" and that sort of thing. In golf, your audio was so pronounced, did you really realize that it would carry this far when you said those words? HAL SUTTON: Oh, no. I didn't realize it would. I could have said that to myself. That's what I was thinking. My vocal cords just spit it out, you know. I don't know. It was just the moment. There was an alien inside me that said it, I don't know (laughing). Q. Besides the great quote, the other thing I think we remember that tournament for is you were maybe the first guy to kind of stand up to Tiger at that time. We were in an era where he was the new guy; he was amazing. Everyone was fawning over him, including a lot of players. Was it just an extension of your normal self-confidence, but you really kind of made it clear that you weren't going to be like these other guys and kiss the ring. You were going to go out and command it. Was that easy for you to do? Did you notice other guys maybe followed you a little bit after that week? HAL SUTTON: I think Tiger will look back at his career in 2000, and it will be one of his greatest years. Tiger was turning everybody back at the time. I think the thing that was the toughest on me was when we got rained out on Saturday, the golf course was playing to my advantage. It was hard and fast. And that was helping the fact that I wasn't as long as him. And then the heavens opened up, and on Monday morning, or that evening, it rained like three inches and now it was his game. The only advantage I had was a three-shot lead. I tell you what. Here's what I was going to say to your point. I saw Bob Rotella when I walked in and he said, I'll never forget the quote you had here. And I was thinking like everybody else was thinking, okay, another "be the right club today" person. He said, no, that's not the quote at all. You don't remember? And I said well, which one? I know the media was waiting on me to start folding at any point in time. And every time I went in the media center they gave me every reason in the world I was supposed to fold. He said that's exactly what I'm talking about. He said, you realize, I get down on my knees and I pray all the time. And I realized I wasn't praying to Tiger Woods, so it must be going to be okay. He's not God. But the media did everything they could to present that he was God as far as golf is concerned. You know, at that time we had bought into that. The world had kind of bought into that. It was a snowball effect, basically. Everybody was reading into it. Q. Beating Woods then and beating Nicklaus in '83, which one means more? HAL SUTTON: I tell you, I didn't really have an opinion on that until Tiger beat Rocco at Torrey Pines. And I was sitting in my den with my little boy at the time. I never talked to him -- he was five years old, and I never talked to him about beating Tiger Woods. And Tiger Woods is such a big name. And this little five-year-old looks up he at me and he said, Daddy, you beat him one time, didn't you? He didn't know who Jack Nicklaus was. It was big at that moment because my son recognized that I had done that. Nobody in the room but he and I. Q. What separates this golf tournament, THE PLAYERS, compared to all the other golf tournaments you guys play year in and year out? HAL SUTTON: I think there is a sense of pride because it's called THE PLAYERS, you know. And this is about us. This is the home of the PGA TOUR. This is -- I don't know of too many places they do it better. I'm not current on the PGA TOUR, but this is pretty nice. It's done pretty -- they get the feedback from every other event, you know, and they come back here and put the best of the best in. The players sense it, the players' families sense it, the spectator senses it. The drama from the golf course, Jacksonville itself supports this. I've never seen a city that supports a golf tournament like this. The volunteers feel it. It's got a lot of class to it. It's got a big paycheck, too (laughing). Q. Ten years or so ago when you came in here you gave Jackie Burke a lot of credit for you turning your game around. Are you still in contact with him and are you talking to him about getting your mind right for the Champions Tour? HAL SUTTON: I talked to him last night, as a matter of fact. I would say that Jackie's had a great deal to do with the way I think and what I do and how I talk to my children. His sense of awareness of what's going on in the world is as strong as anybody I know. Every time he speaks, I do all the listening and he does all the talking. One of his other great lines and y'all can put this into your own words. He said how there is no such thing as being secure all the time or being insecure all the time. The greatest way to go through life is to have a balance of both. Move from one to the other. You can't ever stay in the same one. Think about that. You know, we get uptight about being insecure. Being insecure is what causes you to move to the secure level. You make those steps, make the changes that it takes to move into security. That's where Tiger's at right now. You know, he's probably insecure about a lot of things right now. He'll make the adequate steps to move into the secure spot. LAURA HILL: Thanks for spending some time with us today. Appreciate it. End of FastScripts |
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