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Closer look Two shots define Sutton’s first round at Pebble
Posted: Thursday June 15, 2000 07:50 PM
By Ryan Hunt, CNNSI.com PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Hal Sutton had a start to the U.S. Open that he'll always remember. He also had finish he'll want to forget. Still, all in all, Sutton's first-round 69 has him exactly where he wants to be -- in contention after the first day of the U.S. Open. But two shots will define Sutton's opening round -- an 8-iron he knocked in for eagle on No. 1 and a pitching wedge that went awry on his double-bogey at No. 14. "What a weird day," said Sutton, who sits three strokes behind first-round leader Tiger Woods. "The weather was kind of strange and my finish was kind of strange. A lot of good and a lot of bad. I guess that's U.S. Open-type stuff." What wasn't U.S. Open-type stuff, especially for Pebble Beach, was Sutton's second shot of the tournament. Sutton knocked an 8-iron into the cup from 136 yards, becoming the first player to eagle the first hole in Open play at Pebble Beach. "My drive went exactly where I wanted it to," Sutton said. "So did my second shot. "I had a little three-quarter 8-iron. I hit it right on line and I knew I had to land it about 15 feet short. And it just kind of ran up in the hole." The momentum carried him through the entire front nine. Sutton birdied the second and fourth holes en route to a 31 on the front. He was cruising at 6-under-par, thanks to birdies at 12 and 13, before disaster struck on No. 14. Holding the early Open lead and his pitching wedge, a miscalculation on his third shot on the 573-yard par-5 cost Sutton the two strokes he earned with his opening eagle. A solid drive and 5-iron second shot put him in striking distance of a third consecutive birdie. But Sutton's pitching wedge approach overshot the green and landed in the heavy rough, a victim of the swirling winds at Pebble Beach. "Lee Westwood hit in front of me and the ball kind of got hung in the wind and it went short in the bunker," Sutton said. "So I went ahead and hit a smooth pitching wedge and I guess the wind got in behind mine, because I didn't hit it very hard. It flew all the way to the hole and jumped into the back deep rough and it was just a horrendous lie." He proceeded to chunk his fourth shot into the bunker, before finally chipping onto the green in 5. He two-putted for a double-bogey 7. The Open lead was gone and so was his momentum. He finished his round with bogeys at 16 and 18 to finish the day at 2-under 69 and with thoughts of what could have been. "I had to take a lot of medicine coming in," Sutton said. "But if someone said to me I was going to shoot 69 the first round of the U.S. Open, I would have been pleased with that. There were a lot of positives out there, but I hit a couple of shots that I paid the price for."
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