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.

External link

• ESPN profile for Hal Sutton
• Hal Sutton at Golf Stars Online Directory of related interviews, sites and feature articles