No Rest for Weary Sutton

Sweat streamed down Hal Sutton’s face and stained his shirt Monday as he pounded balls on the practice range, trying to shake the rust from a game that has been relatively dormant the past month.

This is not the time to be catching up.

The PGA Championship starts Thursday, the final major of the year. Of greater interest to the 43-year-old Sutton is finding his form in time for the Ryder Cup next month.

“Every morning I wake up, I feel like I’ve just run a marathon,” he said.

There’s a reason for that, and it has nothing to do with age.

Sutton learned last month that he is suffering from sleep apnea, a disorder that causes him to stop breathing while he sleeps.

“I never get rest when I go to sleep,” he said. “I sleep a long time, but it’s not a good sleep. The way the doctors explained it, the brain sends a message to the heart to beat more because it’s not getting enough oxygen. The heart beats faster and it wakes you up.”

Sutton said he wakes up about 30 times an hour for a slight second.

“It’s like switching stages of sleep,” he said.

Over the past year, Sutton has battled soreness in his ankle, his hip and his back. The rest of his body is doing fine. Now all he needs is rest.

“When I talked to him before the British Open, he thought it was just his stomach or heartburn,” Ryder Cup captain Curtis Strange said. “My brother-in-law has sleep apnea. That can be some serious stuff.”

Sutton didn’t make the trip to Royal Lytham & St. Annes. He took five weeks off, returning to the PGA Tour last week at the Buick Open, where he missed the cut for the first time this year.

A Ryder Cup star at Brookline two years ago when he went 3-1-1, some wonder whether Sutton will be a liability at The Belfry.

Mention of this only caused Sutton to purse his lips.

“People have got to have something to talk about,” he said. “If I was worried about that bull, I’d be worried all the time.”

During a practice round Sunday, he belted a drive and still needed a strong three-iron just to clear the water in front of the 18th, a 490-yard hole that is the longest par four in PGA Championship history.

“All the things they’re doing now plays into the hands of the big hitters,” he said. “They took the field size from 150 to 25. There’s only 25 people in this tournament that can win.”

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PGA Championship

When: Thursday-Sunday

Site: Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands Course)

Length: 7,213 yards

Par: 35-35--70

Defending champion: Tiger Woods