PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – When Hal Sutton held off Jack Nicklaus by one shot to win the 1983 PGA Championship at Riviera Country Club north of Los Angeles, the Golden Bear turned to his crystal ball.
“This will be one of many major championships for you,” Nicklaus told the 25-year-old Sutton that day, adding that he could be the “Next Jack” and become the game’s dominant force with the game he possessed.
While that never came to be – Sutton didn’t win another major – the two are linked in Players Championship history as the only players to win the PGA Tour’s flagship event twice – with all four titles captured on a Monday.
“That’s something. Monday finishes are rare, and we each did it twice,” Sutton said over the phone. “Not bad standing next to Jack in that way.”
This week’s storms have forced the Players Championship into a Monday finish for just the eighth time. Nicklaus won the inaugural Players in 1974 on Monday and the 1976 Players on Monday; the runner-up both years was J.C. Snead. Add his 1978 Players title – coming on a Sunday, mind you – Nicklaus is the only three-time winner of The Players.
Sutton won the 1983 championship in the second year it was played at TPC Sawgrass. Seventeen years later, he won the 2000 Players by holding off heavy favorite Tiger Woods by one shot with his “be the right club today,” on 18.
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“It’s hard enough to win a golf tournament when you have to play four days, but when you add the fifth day to it, it just makes it that much harder,” said Sutton, 63, a winner of 14 PGA Tour titles, a former Ryder Cup captain and the PGA of America’s Player of the Year in 1983.
Sutton said his mindset heading into the Mondays was different.
“I was chasing the lead in the first one and I was sitting on the lead in the second one,” Sutton said.
In 1983, Sutton came from four shots back with a final-round, 3-under-par 69 on Monday to win by one shot over Bob Eastwood.
“My mentality was to just string one good shot after another good shot and see what happens,” Sutton said. “It wasn’t blowing as hard as it was (on Saturday of this year), but it was blowing hard. A key shot was on 17 when I hit an 8-iron into the middle of the green and it rolled back to the hole to about six inches.
“Believe me, I wasn’t aiming at the flag.”
Seventeen years later, Sutton was ranked No. 11 in the world heading into the Players. Woods was No. 1 – by an astonishing 10 points. Woods, who had yet to play four full years on the PGA Tour, already had won 19 of his record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles, including three in 2000 heading into the Players. He had won two of his 15 majors; he would win three consecutive majors later in 2000.
But when play was halted on Sunday due to another storm, Sutton had a three-shot as the two were on the 12th hole.
“My mindset was, and I was pretty specific about this, I had to get to the 16th hole with a three-shot lead,” Sutton said. “Because I might not go for the green in two at 16 and he probably would, which means he might make eagle and I might make par. And that’s exactly what happened. He made eagle and I made par and I went to 17 with a one-shot lead.”
Both parred 17, setting up Sutton’s memorable call from the middle of the fairway on 18. He was 178 yards from the flag and pulled a 6-iron. As the ball flew toward the flag, Sutton emphatically said, “be the right club today.” It was, coming to rest 10 feet from the hole. Woods went over the green but chipped to less than a foot, forcing Sutton to two-putt. He did.
“It felt great. I had never said, ‘be the right club today’ in my life,” Sutton said. “But I knew I had the perfect yardage; I knew there was nothing that could take the tournament away from me after I hit it. The only thing that could hurt the shot was a puff of wind. That’s why I said what I said, I just didn’t want to be surprised.
“Playing alongside Tiger made it a lot different. He was beating everybody at the time. That week Colin Montgomerie said we were all playing for second. The week before Davis had a three-shot lead and Tiger ran him down and won.
“Tiger needed to be beat at the time. I felt the pressure of being the guy in charge and trying to beat him. It was added pressure and the win felt a little bit better.”
With his victory in 1983, Sutton won $126,000 – becoming the first six-figure winner in The Players. Seventeen years later, he won $1.08 million – becoming the first seven-figure winner in The Players.
“I think back to those tournaments all the time whether the PGA Tour is playing on Monday or not,” Sutton said. “When you’ve had success on a demanding course like the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, against the best field in golf, you don’t forget you won there.”
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