Remember Sutton? He’s Back : Golf: Player once hailed as ‘the next Jack Nicklaus’ shoots a 63 for one-stroke lead in Bob Hope Classic.

There was a time when Hal Sutton would not have been especially excited about shooting a nine-under-par 63 in the first round of a 90-hole tournament.

After all, everybody lights up the leader board in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Tom Kite shot 35 under par to win it last year.

Besides, Sutton’s round Wednesday at Indian Wells, considered the easiest of the four desert courses used in this tournament, left him with only a one-stroke lead over Ronnie Black, who shot a 64 at La Quinta.

But being in the lead any day is encouraging for Sutton.

“It’s been a long time since I have done anything,” said Sutton, who was being hailed as “the next Jack Nicklaus” more than 10 years ago, after he had won a PGA Championship and the Tournament Players Championship at 25. “That was my best round in at least three years.”

Sutton, golf’s leading money winner in 1983 and among the top 10 the next two years, has almost fallen off the charts. He finished 185th on the money list in 1992 and 161st last year. The 10-year exemption from his 1983 PGA Championship ran out last year, and the only reason he can play this year is that he has taken a one-time exemption for being in the top 50 on the all-time money list. He was 32nd at the end of last year.

“A lot of people kept asking how I felt taking that exemption,” Sutton said. “They act like I ought to give it back. I used to play pretty good, so I guess I earned it. I’d rather do that than go back to qualifying school.”

The way Sutton has played the last two years, getting back on the tour through qualifying school would have been a longshot.

So, what did happen to Sutton’s bright future?

“I know exactly what happened,” Sutton said. “I started listening to too many people. I was trying to get better. You know, it’s not just a Hal Sutton thing. Everybody wants to get better. I listened to everybody and tried everything and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I couldn’t do anything that they told me.”

Sutton finally realized that he had earned $3.3 million playing golf his way and $100,000 in two years of taking everybody’s advice.

“For two years, I just threw all of my knowledge in a waste basket,” he said. “I just let everybody do with me what they wanted. I’ve played this game for 25 years and I quit relying on the knowledge I had.”

When Sutton was at his peak, he was one of the game’s best ball-strikers.

“Any time I was putting well, I felt I had a chance to win,” he said.

But over the past two years, his ball-striking has been the missing link in his game.

“I was shell-shocked because I hit so many drives off line,” he said. “I used to hit it straight, on a line. Then, not only was I off line by 50 or 60 yards, I didn’t even know which way I was going to miss.”

Sutton finally went back to Jimmy Ballard, his original instructor, and asked for some videotape of what he should be working on.

“When I saw that tape, I was so far off, I told Jimmy I would come and see him when I was closer,” Sutton said.

Now he’s close.

“It’s getting there,” Sutton said. “I’ll tell you one thing: My patience has been stretched to its limit. If I had any suicidal tendencies, I’d have taken them by now.”

Sutton isn’t convinced he’s over the hump yet.

But at least it feels good again to hit the ball and see it fly in the intended direction.

Golf Notes

Jay Delsing, Donnie Hammond and Clark Dennis share third place at 65. All of their rounds were played at La Quinta. . . . Jodie Mudd, Tom Sieckmann, John Huston and Guy Boros each shot a 66 to share the low round at Bermuda Dunes and are among 10 players tied for sixth. . . . Payne Stewart, John Wilson and Andrew Magee, at 67, shared the low round on the Palmer Course at PGA West, where the celebrities were also playing.