Hal Sutton is in his 20th season on the US Tour, but he has crammed all his wins into the start and end of his career - and his 14th tournament win came in the Shell Houston Open on Sunday when he produced a final round 69 for 10-under-par 278 to finish three shots clear of Joe Durant and Lee Janzen.

Sutton earned $612,000 for his latest win, which meant so much to him after finishing runner-up in the tournament in 1994 and 1999. "This is one that I wanted more than anything. I've been close so many times, so close and yet so far, so this is really good," he said.

In his early years on tour, Sutton was considered one of its brightest stars. As a rookie in 1982, he had three second place finishes and, in his last tournament of the year, his first win in the Walt Disney Classic.

Sutton was to go on to win seven tournaments in his first five years on tour before then forgot how to win. He was to endure eight years without a win on tour (the low point coming in 1992 when his earnings fell to $39,324) before returning to the winners circle in the 1995 BC Open. Since then, he has won a further six times, most notably his head-to-head win over Tiger Woods in the Players Championship last year.