The best golfer from every U.S. state

Louisiana: Hal Sutton

David Toms most certainly qualifies as one of the best golfers ever out of the state of Louisiana. The Monroe native was able to capture a major title with the PGA Championship in 2001 and earned numerous other victories on the PGA Tour throughout his career. Frankly, it’s a neck-and-neck race between him and Hal Sutton, but we’re going with the latter here, even if it’s only by a slight margin as both players have a ton of merit to their careers.

Born in Shreveport — where he stayed to attend Centenary College as well — Sutton has strong ties to the state of Louisiana and still resides in the state. When it comes to his career on the links, however, he also has plenty to write home about.

Sutton turned professional in 1981 after leaving his collegiate career behind him and success wasn’t too far away for him. He earned his first win in his second professional season, capturing a victory at the 1982 Walt Disney World Golf Classic. The next year, however, would be by far his best season. Though it was just two wins to his credit on the season, they were massive victories as Sutton won the Players Championship in March before besting the great Jack Nicklaus by one stroke in August at the 1983 PGA Championship.

That would be Sutton’s only major championship in his career, but he finished in the top 10 as his best showing in each of the four. Meanwhile, he won 14 times on the PGA Tour in all and put together an overall successful career that just narrowly edges Toms to make him Louisiana’s best.