Wednesday, September 20, 2000
For Sutton, beating Tiger bigger than a
major
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Despite failing to win a major
championship this year, Hal Sutton still achieved the greatest
personal victory of his career.
He beat Tiger Woods.
Sutton won the 1983 PGA Championship — going toe-to-toe with
Jack Nicklaus at Riviera — but says nothing can top his one-stroke
victory over Woods in The Players Championship in March.
“It ranks at the top of my list in personal achievements,
especially in wake of what Tiger is doing,” Sutton said Monday
at a luncheon where The Players Championship announced $1.3 million
for charity. “He started playing a year and a half ago at
a level most people don't know anything about. And he's kept it
going, as we all know.”
Sutton, fed up with white flags of surrender seemingly waved at
Woods, said he would not be intimidated and then proved it with
a near flawless final round for a one-stroke victory on the TPC
at Sawgrass.
Woods made it interesting with an eagle on the par-5 16th, but
he couldn't muster a birdie on the final two holes. That's the
way Sutton envisioned it unfolding.
“I told (wife) Ashley the night before that I've got to get
to 16 ahead by three. I had planned on him making eagle,”
Sutton said. “But I knew 17 and 18 ... we both had to play
the same way. I felt I could beat him if we had to play the same
way.”
Sutton's greatest accomplishment in golf was being on the winning
Ryder Cup team at The Country Club a year ago this week. As for
his only major?
“I was young and didn't know any better,” said Sutton,
the last man to win wire-to-wire in the PGA Championship. “At
the time I did that, Jack wasn't playing at quite the same level
Tiger is playing today.”
TIGER WANNABE: Despite winning the career Grand Slam and
setting scoring records in each of the four majors, Tiger Woods
always says his most impressive feat is getting into the Tour
Championship in just seven tournaments.
Charles Howell knows what he means.
“I can appreciate that a whole lot because that's what I'm
trying to do,” the NCAA champion from Oklahoma State said.
Howell has earned $213,213, and will need about $190,000 more
to get his full-exempt card for next year without going to qualifying
school. He already has earned enough for conditional status, meaning
he can take unlimited sponsors' exemptions the rest of the year.
That only makes Woods' feat that much more illustrious. He took
only three exemptions, winning in his fifth start at Las Vegas
and getting into top 30 on the money list with another victory
at Disney World.
“Incredible,” Howell said. “I'd have to win, and
hope a lot of people got hurt, to get into the Tour Championship.”
SWOOSH STORIES: Two tidbits from the 18-month negotiations
between Nike and Tiger Woods that led to the five-year deal worth
about $100 million.
The lead negotiator for Nike was Ian Todd, head of global marketing.
Todd worked for IMG when Woods first signed with the swoosh in
1996 for $40 million. He remains close with Alistair Johnston,
who's head of worldwide golf operations for IMG and supervises
Woods' agent.
“It was a very interesting situation because he was sitting
entirely on the other side of the fence,” Johnston said.
“During the course of negotiations, when tempers got frayed,
our relationship kept things on track.”
Also, Golf World magazine first reported a year ago that a new
deal for about $85 million to $90 million was being discussed.
That indeed turned out to be the base amount — even though
Woods won four major championships during the negotiations.
The extra money comes from profit sharing and other revenue sources
in the contract.
“We were not trying to capitalize on his ongoing performance,”
Johnston said. “Nike respected that in us and, I think, at
the end of the day delivered a good agreement.”
FINAL WORD: “Probably the single most thing I admire
about Tiger Woods is he can sign a $100 million deal today, and
wake up tomorrow with the same desire to be the best in the world.”
— Hal Sutton.
Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address) of This Story
to A Friend:
|
