GREENSBORO -- Right now, life is good for Hal Sutton. He played a crucial part in last fall’s U.S. Ryder Cup victory. He stared down Tiger at the Players Championship in late March. And on a beautiful Easter Day at Forest Oaks County Club, he finished off the field at the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic, winning by three strokes over Andrew Magee.

After the tournament, when a prominent member of the Greensboro Jaycees asked Sutton when his plane left the airport, Sutton replied "When I get there."

While nobody would describe the field at this year’s GGCC as "world-class" some big names entered: Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Justin Leonard, Jesper Parnevik, Shigeki Maruyama, Jim Furyk, Frank Nobilo, John Daly, and Mark Calcavecchia, whose final round 65 was the only really, really low score on Sunday – and that from a player who has been struggling mightily with his putter.

Still, it wasn’t enough to catch Sutton, who placed significant distance between himself and the rest of the field with two fine rounds of 67 and 64 on Thursday and Friday. Sutton’s Thursday round included and eagle on the par-4 fifth, three birdies and no bogeys. His sizzling Friday 64 could have been a 62 if he hadn’t bogeyed seven and 18. That round included no less than 11 birdies and placed Sutton at the top of the leaderboard beginning the weekend at 13-under-par.

Other fine moments from the first two days included Greensboro’s John Maginnes’ wild 69 on Thursday. Brian Henninger fired a 66 on Thursday. Jesper Parnevik shot 69 to open the defense of his title. Scott Verplank produced a 66, Omar Uresti a 67, Sean Murphy a 67. Justin Leonard showed signs of coming back to form with a fine 69.

On Good Friday, Sutton stole the headlines with that aforementioned birdie-binge 64. Ex-baseball player Barry Cheesman shot a 30 on the front side on Friday but could ‘only’ manage a 36 on the back for an excellent 66 which included an eagle on the par-5 ninth where he nailed a 2-iron to within five feet. The round placed Cheesman in Saturday’s final pairing with Sutton, even though Cheesman trailed by a whopping five strokes.

Others who performed well on Friday included Jonathan Kaye with a 67 and Andrew Magee with a 68. Scott Dunlap produced a 67 as did Dudley Hart. Defending Champion Parnevik, playing with Sutton, tried to keep pace with another 69. Of Sutton’s round, Parnevik said, "it was fun to watch."

With a five shot gap between Hal Sutton and the rest of the field, the 2000 GGCC was shaping up to be a race for second place.

Two local golfers with high aspirations for the GGCC weren’t in the hunt by the beginning of the weekend, although both made the cut. Smithfield’s Neal Lancaster shot 73-70 while John Maginnes followed his Thursday 69 with a disappointing 74. Another local favorite, Davis Love III, who played his college ball at UNC, shot well with a 72 and a 69. That placed him 10 shots off the lead and firmly in the middle of the pack.

After two days of decent and sometimes wild scoring, Forest Oaks took some revenge on Saturday. With temperatures in the low 60s, a brisk breeze and little sunshine until the end of the day, most contestants found it difficult to score. The deep rough seemed deeper, the pins less accessible and the greens even faster and firmer than Thursday and Friday. Nobody was playing darts out there. Many who missed a fairway or green lost a stroke.

Sutton stumbled briefly on the par-4 fifth, where he four putted from 35 feet.

"I lost my focus on that hole," he said. "There were some kids playing in a nearby yard and I just lost my concentration. Plus I was above the hole with my approach shot." But Sutton regained his focus quickly with birdies on the next two holes to salvage a 36 on the front. On the back, he birdied No. 13 but bogeyed 14 on his way to a modest 72.

That score didn’t hurt Sutton as the rest of the field found it just as hard to score. Omar Uresti pumped out a 31 on the front nine, but finished with a disappointing 38 for a 69. After the round, Uresti couldn’t remember the last time he shot a 31 for nine holes in competition.

"Funnily enough, I wasn’t that aggressive on the front, I just made a number of 15-foot putts," he said. "I just got a couple of bad breaks on the back. That was all."

It was moving day but nobody was really moving. Uresti’s playing partner, Justin Leonard, shot 73 and looked dejected and despondent after his round.

"It’s just frustrating," he said, not stopping for long to answer questions. "I’ve been playing like this for a while and I don’t know why. Maybe I’m over-analyzing."

Just as frustrated on a day when the wind buffeted the MetLife blimp was Neal Lancaster who broke his putter on the 16th and had to use his wedge on 17 and 18, three wedging the last hole for a disappointing 76. John Maginnes shot 75 on Saturday but was upbeat and somewhat philosophical.

"It’s just difficult to get it near to some of the pins today," said Maginnes. "But it’s a fair golf course." Maginnes, who plays out of Sedgefield Country Club, said that the GGCC was his favorite event of the season. "It’s toughest on my wife who stays really busy all week with people in and out of house and the need to get tickets for so many people. But it’s a lot of fun."

Maginnes’ 75 was not the worst by any stretch of the imagination.

After a 68 on Friday, Aaron Bengoechea shot 84. Two others shot 80 and at least a third of the remaining golfers shot well into the upper 70s, making Sutton’s routine even-par round seem a lot better.

Still, like Uresti, some decent players scored in the 60s on Saturday. Andrew Magee shot 68, as did Davis Love. Dudley Hart and four others shot 69s. All great scores given the conditions.

But when the sun finally came out late on Saturday afternoon and wind died down, it was clear that the GGCC was going to be a two man race between Sutton and Magee, even though Sutton would have a three-shot lead on the first tee.

After his round, Magee was pleased, but realized that it was going to be tough beating Sutton on Sunday. "You can’t rattle Hal. He’s not going to shoot 75. He’s going to shoot par or better. He’s one of the most accurate driver’s on tour."

Ironically, Sutton did not consider himself to be having the best week with the driver. Going into Sunday’s round, he was just 53rd in the field in driving accuracy.

"I’m just a little bit off," he said. But he was not planning to back off to fairway woods or long irons off the tee on Sunday. It would be business as usual.

Sutton was by no means upset with his round despite the early double bogey.

"That wasn’t my putter’s fault," he said. "That was my fault. I lost my focus. Earlier in my career, I might have blown up after something like that, but I’m more mature now and I birdied the next two holes."

With Sunday dawning pleasantly warm, sunny and not as breezy as Saturday, it looked like a decent score from Magee or someone within striking distance might come through. Mark Calcavecchia somehow shot 65 but it wasn’t enough. Over the first few holes, Sutton wasn’t folding. He bogeyed three, but birdied five for a front nine 36. Nothing spectacular but nothing errant either. With the greens firm and just about every pin tucked away, it was always going to be difficult to score.

Magee matched Sutton’s front-nine 36. Barry Cheesman and Dudley Hart looked like they might charge through, only to miss opportunities. Hart missed a short putt for birdie on the par-3 12th, effectively ending his chances.

But at the beginning of the back nine, Magee finally started to make things interesting. He birdied the 10th and 11th, while birdied the 10th and parred 11. Then at the par-5 13th, the end seemed near for Magee when he pumped his drive into the trees on the right hand side of the fairway, completely negating his chance of reaching in two. And with Sutton in the middle of the fairway, all seemed lost. But Magee punched out, hit the green and made birdie, while Sutton laid up, airmailed the green and made bogey.

Suddenly the game was on, Magee just one shot behind with five holes to play.

Sutton only thought about one thing on the walk between the 13th green and 14th tee.

"I’m going to put the ball in this fairway," he said to himself. Sutton drove right down the pipe and made par. Magee matched.

Then Magee’s hopes faded when he bogeyed the par-5 15th while Sutton birdied. Both drove into the rough, but it was Magee’s sloppy wedge for his third shot and subsequent duffed chip that cost him a shot at the trophy.

"I just didn’t hit the approach I wanted to on 15," said Magee.

The 2-shot swing made the last three holes a formality, even though Magee birdied the last, something he achieved three times in four rounds. The three on 18 on the last day earned him an extra $100,000 for sole possession of second.

Afterwards, Magee was not all that dejected.

After his round, Magee, who recorded his seventh second place since his last PGA Tour victory in 1994, didn’t seem too disappointed. "It’s just difficult to shoot a low score out there," he said. "The greens here are difficult. You just don’t see people get the ball really close to the pin with their approach shots. I felt like I had an opportunity when the day began but it just didn’t happen. I shot 71 and made an extra $100,000 with the birdie on 18 so it wasn’t a bad week. I’ll be back next year."

Local favorites fared poorly on Sunday, with the exception of Neal Lancaster who found a new putter and shot 69. Davis Love shot 76 and John Maginnes 78.

Meanwhile, Hal Sutton parred in from 16 for a 71 and first place prize money of $540,000 and the Sam Snead Trophy.

Afterwards, Sutton felt humbled to be in the winner’s circle two times in a month.

"Nobody’s bigger than the game," he said. "I just went out there today to play the best I could. I didn’t try to be conservative. I just played as well as I could given the tough conditions. I just wanted to hit fairways and greens."

Sutton enjoyed a much better driving day on Sunday and when he did miss the fairway on 15, he birdied anyhow.

"I felt very fortunate to end up on top today," he said. "The golf course was very tough this weekend."

As the vanquished but happy Magee said, "I knew it was always going to be difficult to catch Hal. This wasn’t Hal’s first Rodeo."

It was time for Hal to catch that plane.

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Scott Martin runs Scott Martin Creative Services in Charlotte. He’s the author of The Insiders’ Guide to Golf in the Carolinas.