Hal Sutton
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Hal Sutton (born April 28, 1958 in Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American golfer and captain of the 2004 American Ryder Cup team.
Sutton was a promising golfer at Centenary College, named GOLF Magazine's 1980 College Player of the Year. He established himself as one of the PGA TOUR's top young stars in the early 1980s, winning the PGA Championship in 1983. However, he then entered into a long drought, going from 1986 to 1995 without a PGA TOUR victory; he nearly lost his tour card late in the string, maintaining it only by using a one-time-only exemption for players in the top 50 of the all-time PGA TOUR career money list. In 2001, however, Sutton had one of his best years, making the cut in 22 of 26 events with one victory at the Shell Houston Open at TPC at The Woodlands and a season winnings total of $1.7 million USD.
He was named non-playing captain of the USA's Ryder Cup team for 2004. The competition, played at Oakland Hills Country Club, saw Europe beat the USA by 18.5 points to 9.5 points. Inevitably, Sutton came in for some criticism of his performance as captain, especially for his decision to pair Tiger Woods with Phil Mickelson on the first day of play.
At the age of 47 Sutton is no longer competitive on the tour: as of 23 May he is yet to make a cut in 2005. He will become eligible to play the Champions Tour in April 2008.
PGA Tour wins
- 1982 Walt Disney World Golf Classic
- 1983 Tournament Players Championship, PGA Championship
- 1985 St. Jude Memphis Classic, Southwest Golf Classic
- 1986 Phoenix Open, Memorial Tournament
- 1995 B.C. Open
- 1998 Westin Texas Open, The Tour Championship
- 1999 Bell Canadian Open
- 2000 The Players Championship, Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic
- 2001 Shell Houston Open
Sutton's major championship is shown in bold.
External links
- Profile on the PGA Tour's official site (http://www.pgatour.com/players/bio/132123)
- ESPN profile for Hal Sutton (http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/players/profile?playerId=418)
- Hal Sutton at Golf Stars Online (http://www.golfstarsonline.com/S/Hal_Sutton/) Directory of related interviews, sites and feature articles