Hal Sutton - "Big Bucks and Byron Nelson" SHORT TRACK

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Bruce Devlin 0:13

Then it started. So Hal, just how much do you think my first winning check was?

SPEAKER_01 0:19

You ask me that question. I'm guessing it was three digits, maybe four.

Bruce Devlin 0:25

It was it was four digits, but it started very low in the four digits.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yeah, you know, uh I I you know, Jackie Burke tells me that he when he won the uh PGA, uh he won I I think he said ten thousand dollars and the check bounced. So that's crazy. And they told him that it would have to it would it would take him a week to put that money in the bank. And I I don't think we ever worried about uh in during um you know the PGA tours always had the money money was in your bank account, you know, two or three days later.

Bruce Devlin 1:03

So the interesting part of it is, you know, it really didn't matter in those days what it was. It was the fact that you were able to win that was the most important part of it, you know. The money was sort of ancillary.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah, Bruce, that's a great point. We played because we loved the game, not because we were making so much money at it. You've already pointed out I won the money list in 1983 and won four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And you know, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars sounds like a lot of money. Uh it it certainly was a lot of money in those days, you know, but it's I mean, p you finish uh fifth now and you make that much money almost. So you know, one a real quick story I was rookie of the year uh in 1982 and I won two hundred and thirty-seven thousand or something like that, and Mr. Nelson called me on the phone and asked me to meet him at Preston Trails. And uh I'm never gonna turn down Mr. Nelson on that. So I drove over to Preston Trails and the way he always did it, he'd watch me hit balls for 30 or 40 minutes, and we'd go in and have lunch. And I never will forget this. I hit it great that day, and he said, Let's go have some lunch. And we go in and we're sitting there and I look over and there's tears running down Mr. Nelson's face. And I said, What's wrong, Mr. Nelson? And he said, Nothing. These are tears of joy, huh? I said, What do you mean? He said, You know, you just won$237,000 in your rookie year, and that's more than I wanted my entire lifetime. And he said, You know what? He said, I felt like I had something to do with both of those journeys. I felt like I had something to do with a PGA tour, and I felt like I had something to do with your life too. Is that an amazing story?

Bruce Devlin 2:54

That'll talk to you up on it.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yeah, that was uh incredible. I mean, that man was what a joy to be around. Yeah, he was a wonderful individual.

Mike Gonzalez 3:04

We hope you've enjoyed this short track of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 3:28

It went smack down the fairway. When it's time as it's like just smacked off line.