Sullivan Admits Keeping ‘Sulli’s Army’ Happy Could Prove A Portugal Problem

When Andy Sullivan captured last year’s Portugal Masters by a massive nine shots there were none happier than a band of about 25 supporters dubbed ‘Sulli’s Army’.

However now that Sullivan is a Ryder Cup star, albeit on a beaten side, his army of supporters has swelled to around 70 for this week’s 10th Portugal Masters.

And Sullivan reckons he’s going to find it difficult to keep them happy unless he becomes the first player to successfully defend the title on the Oceanico Victoria course at Vilamoura.

“It’s going to be tough to keep them happy this week. But yeah, obviously it’s fantastic to be back and last year was unbelievable. It’s going to be mega tough to go out there and win, let alone win by nine, so my goal is just to go out there and continue playing the way I am and hopefully the putter gets warm,” said Sullivan.

Andy Sullian said it could be a problem keeping Sully's Army happy this week as he defends his Portugal Masters title. (Photo - European Tour).

Andy Sullian said it could be a problem keeping Sully’s Army happy this week as he defends his Portugal Masters title. (Photo – European Tour).

“It’s been cold sort of the last couple of weeks. It would be nice to get putter going. Things like that start happening, I feel like I can find the form that got me to the victory last year

“But then my army of supporters is slightly bigger than last year.

“There was about 20, 25 last year and there’s 70 this year. Yeah, there’s a lot of guys to please. They are either going to be very loud or very quiet, depending how much drink they have had the night before.”

And the question of uniforms was raised and with Sully very much in the dark when it comes to the attire his ‘army’ will wear during the course of the Euro 3m event.

“I never hear about these uniforms, so they always keep me on my toes with them. I’m sure they will have something up their sleeve and ridiculous as usual,” he said.

And Sullivan was asked about his season given he won three times last year to be one of the early qualifiers for the European Ryder Cup team but with his best finish in 2016 proper being T2nd behind Hazeltine team-mate Danny Willett in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and then 5th in the French Open and 6th the following week at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

“It was always going to be a tough year for me in the sense of going into a season and winning three times,” he said.

Andy Sullivan wins for a third time in 2015 capturing the Portugal Masters by a massive nine shots. (Photo - European Tour)

Andy Sullivan wins for a third time in 2015 capturing the Portugal Masters by a massive nine shots. (Photo – European Tour)

“And going into this season, obviously at the start of the year, I think the expectations were quite high and finishing second in Dubai so early on in the season, I felt like I had the appetite to go out there and win again. Then just lost my form a little bit and then through sort of Ireland and French and Scottish and The Open, I felt like I found my form again and then it dipped off again and now I feel like I’ve found it again. It’s been a bit of an up-and-down year.

“So results have not been quite as good as I wanted and still up there on the Order of Merit. It is a little bit disappointing but if it’s going to be a disappointing year for me for the rest of my career, I think I’ll take it.

“And it’s been quite easy to get back to normal competition post the Ryder Cup. I got home and I’ve got two children I have to look after, so running after them soon brings you back down to it.

“It’s a fantastic atmosphere at The Ryder Cup, and other tournaments don’t seem to have that atmosphere but you understand that that’s going to be a one-off event that you get that. It’s great to come here and have so many guys following you around and that will create a bit of an atmosphere for me. Generally when they are here and I have a bit of crowd cheering me on, generally play better.

“Hopefully that works in my favour this week.”



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