TRIPLETT ARRIVES WITH A MESSAGE ON HIS BAG
Defending tourney titlist says Black Lives Matter is personal to him
PEBBLE BEACH >> After it’s packed with clubs, oversized head covers, balls and tees, a sweater, rain pants, snacks and perhaps a few bespoke items, there’s not much room left inside a professional’s golf bag.
Kirk Triplett isn’t concerned.
On the PGA Tour Champions circuit, the maybe 40-pound load often rests on the back of a cart. The exterior of Triplett’s bag is also a priority, and it carries far more weight.
The defending PURE Insurance Championship titlist’s sponsor gets top billing. The golfer’s name is prominent in slanted cursive. But there’s also enough available space for Triplett to express his passion for family.
When the 17th annual event begins Friday at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Triplett’s black-andwhite bag will include in three lines and in all upper-case letters the words “Black Lives Matter.” Triplett’s bag message debuted last month when the tour returned from its COVID-19 hiatus that began in March.
“It’s been interesting; there are a lot of reasons why I decided to do it,” said Triplett, the father of four children including a Latina daughter and an African American son, both adopted. “Number one, it’s personal to me; my youngest son
(Kobe, 18) is African American. We’ve had to have some different conversations with him over time like I’ve had to do with some of our other kids.
“But it was really starting to bother me and then the national things began to happen. I’ve always been a newshound. I read all the newspapers but those are just stories, right? This year, maybe it’s because of the pandemic and I’ve had more time. But that thing in Minneapolis with George Floyd, it hit me pretty hard.”
The death of Floyd, a Black man who died when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck for several minutes, in May sparked weeks of nationwide protest.
Triplett, who with Jeff Sluman are the tournament’s only three-time winners, will be among the 80 pros and 80 amateurs in the 54-hole event. The First Tee development program juniors, the impetus of the tournament’s debut in 2004, will not participate because of continued coronavirus concerns. The tournament will also be closed to spectators.
“It’s really not a billboard; it’s just my thing,” Triplett said of his golf bag’s message. “The time is right. I am in a unique position to put what I want on my bag. It’s not a big risk. I don’t have any time frame. I don’t have a plan. It’s just what I’ve done so far.”
“I think most of the people who have something to say, if it’s positive and supportive they say it,” Triplett said. “If it’s not, they’re not saying anything. There has been a fair amount of negativity but it’s been behind the veil of social media, where people can type out whatever they want and not have to face you down. For the most part, I have had tremendous support from my peers out here.”
All PURE Championship rounds will be played at Pebble Beach as an individual pro event combined with a pro-am team (fourball) division. The top 12 amateurs will advance after the 36-hole cut to Sunday’s final round. The Golf Channel will televise all rounds.
In addition to Triplett and Sluman, former titlists Ken Tanigawa (2018), Bernhard Langer (2017), Paul Broadhurst (2016) and Esteban Toledo (2015) are in the field.
Fifteen players will compete in the event for the first time, including Miguel Angel Jimenez, a two-time winner this season, and Jim Furyk, who Sunday claimed The Ally Challenge in his PGA Tour Champions debut.
Two-time PGA Tour winner Paul Stankowski will make his Champions debut this week after tying for second Tuesday at open qualifier held at Bayonet Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside.
Triplett has twice used his bag to support his compassion for children.
Several years ago, he coordinated with Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, a nation adoption assistance organization. Every week for two seasons (54 weeks), information about a child available for adoption in the city in which Triplett was competing was featured on his golf bag. Sometimes, a child’s picture was included, sometimes not.
Early in a tournament week, the child available for adoption accompanied Triplett to meet other players, tour the course, visit the media area and even hit some golf balls.
As a father of adopted children, Triplett’s social concern then is similar to his current belief.
“What can I do to make to help make difference?” he said of his involvement. “I don’t know the answer to that question. But this is sort of what I have come up with in the near term. It’s been an education for me, a wonderful education.
“We run around this golf world to places like Pebble Beach to fine country clubs and resorts all over the world. We forget sometimes what the world really looks like. One of my goals was to remind some people in the golf community that not every place looks like the golf world. We need a bigger tent to welcome more people and to understand what’s going on.”
Last year, motivated by his amateur partner’s strong play, Triplett made an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th, the first playoff hole, to win the championship by one shot over Billy Andrade.
Beginning the final round tied for fifth at 4-under-par, Triplett birdied three of his last six holes en route to a 67 and his 9-under 206 total.
“I was a little out of sorts earlier in the week,” said Triplett, who claimed his eighth career PGA Tour Champions title. “But my junior was playing great golf, and I was like, ‘I better get on my horse. This guy is good and he has a chance to win the tournament.’ That kind of jumpstarted me.”
Triplett and junior Sam Sommerhauser, finished second last year. He won with junior partner Michelle Xie in 2013.
“It’s a huge disappointment to me that juniors aren’t playing because I’ve been fortunate enough to have some great relationships with the kids I’ve played with,” said Triplett. “I think the attitude among the players out here is that we are thrilled to be at Pebble, but we are really sad the juniors aren’t here.”
Triplett has played Pebble Beach since he snuck on with a friend at night in 1980 to play a few holes. He has returned to the Monterey Peninsula nearly every year, often more than once.
He competed in the NorCal Amateur when it cost $35 to play Spyglass. He won the former Merrill Lynch Pebble Beach Invitational in 1996 after finishing second the prior two years. He played in the AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm for about 20 years beginning in 1990, finishing as high as tied for second. He debuted at the current tournament, then called the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, in 2012.
This week, Triplett’s four-decade appreciation of Pebble Beach continues. He’s 58 years old, the father of four adult children and he has some something to share beyond golf.