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MISSISSIPPI GULF RESORT CLASSICMarch 22, 2013Hal SuttonBILOXI, MISSISSIPPI MODERATOR: Hal, thanks for joining us. 3‑under 69 today. Maybe just some brief thoughts on your round and then we'll get your birdies, bogeys and some questions. HAL SUTTON: I was pleased with today's round. I haven't played very well. I've been trying to correct some bad habits that I had from that bad hip, and today was progress. I hit the ball solidly and the wind was a little bit tricky at times out there because it was up and down and wasn't really moving around a whole lot, but it would gust up and then it would lay down completely and then it would be back up. And that always makes for some uncertainty in your head, you know. But the golf course is in great shape, and you hit it nicely, it'll give you some birdies. MODERATOR: Birdies. HAL SUTTON: 6, I hit the green in 2 and two‑putted from about 25 feet. 8, I hit it about six feet and made it. 6‑iron. 10, I hit 9‑iron about 10 feet and made that. 12, I hit a 9‑iron about 15 feet and made that. 13 I hit an 8‑iron about eight feet and made that. 14, I hit ‑‑ tried to hit a little 7‑iron, hit it right at it and the wind gusted up and came down short of the green and had a terrible lie, so I just kind of put it over to the left of the hole about 15 feet and left it dead center short of the hole. And then 18 I hit a decent tee shot down the left‑hand side, but it was hanging on the downslope, and the wind was kind of into us, and I hit the smaller of the two clubs because I didn't want to knock it over; and I hung it just a little bit to the right and hit the left edge of the bunker and slung it across the bunker and up against the right side and probably found the only place that didn't have any sand in the bunker. I actually caught more liner than I did sand and didn't get it out of the bunker. It actually hit the lip and came back in. Then I hit a really good bunker shot out, which still went about 12 or 13 feet by the hole and I made it coming back. That 18th hole, testy little rascal. MODERATOR: Okay. Questions? Q. That 18th hole, I know people were looking into the bunker and they couldn't even see the ball. It had to be a terrible lie. HAL SUTTON: Yeah, it wasn't a good start because I slipped and fell into the bunker and landed on my back. So that wasn't ‑‑ I wasn't too happy about that. But you know, Mr.Fazio, he designs some vicious bunkers here, so the easiest way to handle these bunkers is to avoid them. Q. And that was kind of, I guess, a really tough putt. It looked like a long distance. HAL SUTTON: Yeah. I mean it was uphill. So that part of it was good, you know. When you're at the right side of that green going to the left, it's a miracle if you can keep it short of the hole. So it went past the hole and had an uphill putt, and I was fortunate to make it. Q. Describe your round. It sounded like you hit quite a few middle‑distance putts for birdies. Seemed like that was working well for you today. These greens playing pretty well right now? HAL SUTTON: Yeah. They're really nice. I did putt the ball well. I had several putts that I missed, but you know, nothing short that I should have made. I mean I had some 10‑footers that could have been made, but I didn't get them in the hole. But the greens were rolling well. They've got a little bit of grain in them, so you've gotta pay attention to the grain. But the golf course is in great shape, really. Q. You had mentioned coming in about your hip. Can you just talk about the recovery period and just how you feel with your game with that and making the adjustments you need to make? HAL SUTTON: I had it replaced in October, and it hurt so bad for so long, my hips were sliding, and you know, you don't hit the ball well when your spine is going like this, when you're backing up in the shot, which you know, it just makes it really hard to hit a good shot. And that's what I was doing to avoid the pain. And then when I came back out this year, you know, it's just ‑‑ your brain remembers that. Even though there's no pain, your brain still remembers what you were doing. So it's been difficult to break, and what happens is when your spine's going like this, you can't keep your eye on the ball to save your life, because your head's going like this. So your eye would actually have to be working back to the right to actually see the ball. So it's almost like everything is catching the ball glancingly, always on the up swing. And boy, I tell you, that's not a good way to play golf. And I saw some ‑‑ last week in the second round I made eight birdies and should have made 11 birdies and shot 70 is all. So I still hit a lot of bad shots. But I saw enough good I knew what I was working on was working, and I've just been continuing to work on it. Q. To have the success that you've had in the past and to know that swing works, how hard is it on you mentally to go through that as far as patience? HAL SUTTON: It's hard. You know, before I came out on the Champions Tour I quit golf for five years entirely, and I came back. When I came back my hip was killing me. And you know, I quit for five years and then I was playing hard for the last three. So you know, I don't have much good over the last eight years basically that I can talk about. And it's not been fun because I don't see myself playing golf the way I've been playing. And so it's hard to have patience, but you have to keep reminding yourself that I'm coming from a long ways back, and we'll just keep working on the right things and hopefully they'll gel and we'll do some right things. I really felt good on the golf course today. I have not had a round since I've been out here that I felt as solid as I did today. So we'll just keep trying to do the same thing. Q. How does the golf course compare from years past? HAL SUTTON: I think it's in the best shape this year that it's been in. It's beautiful. It's got lots of grass on it. Greens are perfect. And I give it its highest ranking this year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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