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Best Golfers from Each State: Louisiana Golf and Hal Sutton

By Christopher O'Day

LOS ANGELES - 1983: Hal Sutton of the USA lifts the winning trophy after winning the USPGA held in 1983 at the Riviera Country Club, in Los Angeles, California, USA. (Photo by Brian Morgan/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - 1983: Hal Sutton of the USA lifts the winning trophy after winning the USPGA held in 1983 at the Riviera Country Club, in Los Angeles, California, USA. (Photo by Brian Morgan/Getty Images) /
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We continue our series with the best golfers from each state, by checking out the top Louisiana Golf product, Mr. Hal Sutton.

When it comes to Louisiana Golf, this was easily the toughest state so far to make a decision. Hal Sutton ended up being the top golfer, but it was a close decision.

There are at least three golfers from the state who amassed 15 or more professional wins. Two of them won majors, and the third ended up finishing his career with 43 wins total. That would be Miller Barber, who had 11 PGA Tour wins, and 24 on the Champions Tour. He played well in 1969, finishing in the top 10 in each major.

Next Up was David Toms. Like Sutton, he won a major. He got up to fifth in the rankings, the highest he would see in his career. He finished with 13 PGA Tour wins, a couple across multiple different Tours elsewhere, and is currently at 18 career wins after winning the U.S. Senior Open back in 2018.

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When it comes down to it, I give the nod to Hal Sutton as the top Louisiana Golf product.

One of the tipping points for me, when it came to deciding the top golfer, was the success that Sutton had not just on the PGA Tour, but when he was in college. He was named the college player of the year in 1980, at a school many have likely not heard of. He played at Centenary, and would amass 14 wins while playing there.

His lone major win came in 1983 when he won the PGA Championship by one stroke over the Golden Bear himself, Jack Nicklaus. IT would be Sutton’s second high profile win of the season, having earlier won the Players Championship.

Both of these events led to Sutton not only leading the Tour in winnings, but also in being named the player of the year. If they would have had world rankings then, he easily would’ve vaulted into the top five. However, they wouldn’t debut until 1986.

He still found success for quite long stretches of time when it came to the rankings. No one can compare to California’s best in Tiger Woods when it comes to sitting at the top, but Sutton was still successful.

Within the first two years of their release, Sutton was in the top 10 for over 50 weeks. Over a decade later, Sutton would be in the top 10 for over 50 weeks again, this time from 1999 to 2001. A large part of this was thanks to two wins in 1998, one of which was the Tour Championship.

It would come to an end in 2001, which also coincided with his last win on Tour, coming at the Shell Houston Open.

Next. Top golfers from each state: Kentucky golf and Justin Thomas. dark

It was a close call for Louisiana Golf, but I feel comfortable with the decision to name Hal Sutton the top golfer from Louisiana.

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