Best of the Players Championship: The 25 Most Dominant Performances
By Bill Felber
This was the tournament where Sutton famously stared down and defeated the seemingly invincible Tiger Woods just as Woods entered his period of greatest dominance.
The two men – one a hardened tour veteran, the other a young megastar, battled through three rounds, Sutton stubbornly clinging to a one-shot lead. In the 18th fairway, Sunday, playing alongside Woods and needing a par to complete his wire-to-wire victory, Sutton stood determinedly over a 6-iron from 172 yards and struck it purposefully. “Be the right club…be the right club today!” he memorably pleaded as the ball landed squarely in the center of the green.
Sutton had led from the start, but Woods delivered a Saturday 66 to move within a stroke and win the chance to stare Sutton down head-to-head Sunday. But he was never able to close that single-stroke gap.
“At least I made Hal work for it,” Woods said. “We had a good battle.”
Visiting with the media after his round, Sutton almost sounded as though in taking on Woods he was defending the honor of the entire tour. “Tiger Woods is not bigger than the game” he said.
The victory was Sutton’s second at the Players. He had won 17 years earlier…also by a single stroke. Woods would recover from the defeat to win the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA that same summer, completing the first three legs of what would come to be known as the “Tiger Slam.”