Hal Sutton, Two Years Later

It’s been two years since Hal Sutton lead the 2004 American Ryder Cup team into battle against the Euros.  To hear Sutton tell it, it’s been a quiet and somewhat lonely two years as he hasn’t had much contact with any of his former teammates since they got their clocks cleaned that fateful weekend.

It’s not totally surprising that he’s alienated some people as his somewhat boorish behavior was out of place at an international event like the Ryder Cup.  Certainly, the cowboy image he portrayed (with hat and all) didn’t really provide the effect he thought it might.

When asked if his Ryder Cup memories were good ones, he said, “I’ll look back on it as a positive experience, I think it’s the greatest marketing event in the world. It’s a big to-do. And if somebody thinks you did something wrong, well, that’s why it’s a big to-do. If somebody badmouths something I did, if in some people’s minute opinion they think putting Tiger and Phil together was a mistake …”

Ironically, the Woods-Mickelson pairing was the least of his mistakes that weekend.  If Woods-Mickelson would have won their match, Sutton would have come out looking like a genius.  Granted, Sutton didn’t hit a shot in that Ryder Cup, but like NFL quarterbacks, Ryder Cup captains get too much credit when they win (see Ben Crenshaw) and too much blame when they lose (see Curtis Strange).