Have a nice Trip-lett
Opening-round 62 places Kirk in front
PEABODY — Salem Country Club is easing the competitors of the 38th U.S. Senior Open into the tournament.
The contours of the greens were as tricky as advertised but also soft as sponges following Tuesday’s rain and, combined with the lack of a breeze, allowed the players to take dead aim at the flagstick yesterday.
The result was 40 of the 156 players in the field in red numbers.
Kirk Triplett matched the U.S. Senior Open record with an 8-under par 62, a bogey-free round with six birdies and an eagle to lead the way after Day 1 that leaves him a shot clear of Olin Browne, and 2 up on Doug Garwood.
Loren Roberts had the only previous 62 in the third round of the 2006 edition.
Despite playing solid from tee to green for the entire day, nobody was pumping the brakes more on a record round than Triplett himself.
“It’s so dependent on the conditions,” he said. “Everyone wants to talk about score, some 68s are better than 62, you can look at the leaderboard and there are a lot of guys who shot 4-, 5- or 6-under (yesterday), so you know the course was susceptible to scoring.”
Triplett went pin hunting early at No. 10, getting a 9-iron to 2 feet from 125 yards out. He stayed in red numbers thanks to a 20-footer at No. 11.
The round started to heat up when he ripped off three straight birdies at Nos. 13, 14 and 15, curling in a 15-footer at 13 and making a 20-footer on 15 to make the turn in 31.
He started the front nine with a circle as well with a wedge to 3 feet and made a 5-footer at the downhill par-3 third to get to 6-under.
The highlight of his round came at No. 4, holing out a 9-iron from about 115 yards for an eagle on the short par-4 to an elevated green.
“You have no idea where that pin is sitting up there, that green has so many nooks and crannies,” he said. “I was trying to skip one in there so it wouldn’t spin. I hit some shots in the practice round no matter where I landed them on the green they were coming down to the front.”
The round really could have been even more special as Triplett had makeable birdie bids at No. 7, 8 and 9 that wouldn’t drop, including burning the high side of the cup on a curling left-to-right look at No. 9.
After seeing three 65s and two 66s posted in the morning, the five-time Champions Tour winner knew that he needed to be aggressive.
“When I come to a big tournament where we’re playing a place I’ve never played before, I like to know what the other guys are doing,” Triplett said. “I know what they are capable of and I know what I’m capable of. If there’s good scores out there, I’ve got to go out and shoot a good score.
“If you were in one of the first few groups out there (yesterday), you could have played a little too conservatively the first five or six holes and maybe left some shots out there.”
Playing two groups ahead of Triplett, Browne had nine birdies on his card but dropped shots at No. 1 and 2 after making the turn at 5-under.
Garwood’s round had one blemish on it to go along with seven birdies.
There are plenty of big names lurking with Tom Lehman among those at 65, Miguel Angel Jimenez (runner-up last year) and Bernhard Langer with 67s and last week’s winner Fred Couples at 68.