My favorite Ryder Cup memory: Hal Sutton

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We asked several Champions Tour players to share their favorite memories from the Ryder Cup. What did Hal Sutton say was his favorite moment?

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I remember making my first Ryder Cup team and that was the first year I was eligible. Back then, you couldn't make the team until you were a Class A pro that's how long ago that was. Anyway, it was always exciting to make the team. It's one of the most exciting events in the world as far as golf is concerned. It's pressure packed; you don't want to let your team down. That's why you see some guys failing in it. It's just a different feel from anything else we do.

I think it's more pressure than anything we play in only because you're playing for other people and for your country. Any other time, if we mess up we let ourselves down in this, we let others down.

I was on the '99 Ryder Cup team when we came from so far behind and I remember I was playing Darren Clarke on Sunday and he holed it from about 20 yards right of the green on the first hole to get me 1-down. I had played all five matches and I remember I birdied the next four to get him 3-down. I remember I had about a 3-foot from above the hole on No. 9 to get him 4-down and I missed the putt; it was a hard, fast putt. It goes about 18 inches by and he didn't give me the putt and I made it. It was a long walk from the ninth green to the 10th tee and he gets about halfway up the hill and he stops and turns around and says, "I'd have given you that putt but I'm too far down, I'm sorry." I said, "That's okay Darren; I wouldn't have given it to you either under those circumstances."