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WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 6, 2004

Kirk Triplett

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

CHRIS REIMER: Tournament record 64. Talk about the back nine. Six birdies, coming in birdie, birdie, birdie to finish.

KIRK TRIPLETT: It just kind of felt like my day towards the end of the day. I had hit a number of good shots and was playing nice golf. I birdied 2 and 3, got some momentum -- those were my 11th and 12th holes -- got some momentum coming into those hole where you feel like you are going to have some good chances, 5, 7, 8, and took advantage of those holes and made a nice par save on 6, and dropped a bomb in on 9, and made it one of those days.

CHRIS REIMER: Talk about your eagle on 15.

KIRK TRIPLETT: I holed out from 70 yards. That was exciting.

Q. There are 10 guys tied for the lead.

KIRK TRIPLETT: I noticed the scoring was very good. Last year 7-under led after two days, and if you had shot 2-under every day you would have finished very high up. The weather was colder, I don't think guys were as familiar with the golf course. I don't care what golf course you're playing with, 85 degrees, hardly any wind, the golf course in perfect shape, that's why the scores are so good. Perfect conditions. I think everybody likes it about that temperature, kind of warm, you feel loose, ready to go, and you get a little bit of momentum, and it doesn't matter if you're 200 or 150 or 175, the length becomes less of an issue when it's warm.

Q. (Inaudible)?

KIRK TRIPLETT: If Mr. Harris is in charge of that, as well, then it wouldn't surprise me.

Q. What were you thinking on No. 9? You were putting pretty well all day and No. 9, did you feel that one was going in, too?

KIRK TRIPLETT: I felt that was the kind of putt, it's downhill through a valley and back up the hill, so you go ahead and give it a hit, I was a long ways away, but I didn't feel it was going to be a really hard one to 2-putt. Even though I was a long ways away, I felt it was the kind of a putt you can go ahead and give a roll to and you're not going to end up too far by.

Q. You were one or two groups behind Tiger with an enormous following today.

KIRK TRIPLETT: They missed most of it, I think. The way the golf course is, each hole is kind of separate by itself and I think a lot of people were following that way. You don't park in one space and watch players play three or four. It's sort of stadium style. The players probably enjoy it.

Q. (Inaudible)?

KIRK TRIPLETT: It's more the old style course, like you would see in a major championship. The courses that are kind of wide open, the holes aren't framed very well. Every hole is framed by the trees and you get a feel for the layout of the land. I think it's more pleasing to the eye.

Q. (Inaudible)?

KIRK TRIPLETT: No. You take a place like TPC anywhere, I'm not saying they are a bad venues, I'm saying it's a completely different style of play. And as a rule, we've lost courses like this instead of added them, so it's very nice to have one added.

I think that's why one year -- yeah, sure, there are a ton of amenities, but if the golf course is terrible, I don't care how much stuff you give a guy, he's not coming to play the tournament. If the golf course is good, that's what brings the guys here.

Q. You played maybe your best golf the last three, four years. Why is that?

KIRK TRIPLETT: I wish I knew that. I did put it in a bottle and sell it. I'm probably more comfortable. This is my 15th year playing. I, in theory, know more than I did ten years ago. Whether I use it or not is kind of up to me. I'm very comfortable out here. The new equipment has helped me. I've gained quite a bit of distance. The courses that haven't changed and gotten longer, all of a sudden I'm hitting shorter clubs in so I feel I'm a better golfer, where maybe I just hit it farther because of the equipment. Most of the courses have kept pace there. I would say it's two things, it's experience and technology, the help of the equipment.

Q. (Inaudible)?

KIRK TRIPLETT: Well, I think when I started feeling it was my day, it was the 6th hole. I hit it just to the right of the green, chipped it up to about eight feet by and made a real nice par saving left-to-right downhill putt.

7, I hit a beautiful drive then hit a very indifferent shot into the left-hand bunker. I was kind of in between clubs. I hit a so-so bunker shot out about eight feet, made that birdie.

When things aren't got going to your way, you bogey the par 3s and you butcher the par 5s, make a par and you're standing on the next tee and you're back to 2 under instead of five or six.

Then I hit a vicious pull hook off of 8, which if you're going to miss it on 8, that's where you have to miss it. You can't miss it behind the tree, had a reasonably open shot, pitching wedge in there behind the hole, six feet in there, made it.

That little culmination of holes there, that little group of holes, I mean, I walked to the 9th tee feeling like this was my day. I hit a good drive on 9, an okay 3-iron into the middle of the green, standing over the putt, you get good feelings flowing. I wasn't worried about 3-putting it, let's put it that way. I don't know if I was standing there saying I'm going to make it, but I felt comfortable. It just comes from inside. You can tell yourself it's my day, it's my day, it's my day, over and over again, but unless it comes from inside, it's hard to take ownership of it.

Q. Talking about Jay Delsing, being on Tour 20 years and not having winning success and staying with it. Talk about that dynamic. I don't know how well you know him.

KIRK TRIPLETT: I played college golf with Jay, played quite a bit. He's been back and forth on the Nationwide Tour and here. I think they have a new baby or a new baby on the way, something like that, so he needs to play well. That's probably why he played good today.

That's another thing for me. Going back to why have you played better. I've gotten more comfortable in where I'm at. I haven't had to fight that, knock on wood. So far, I've played a nice continuous stretch out here. Down inside I know I can do it. Even when I don't do it, it doesn't cause me to really doubt that. I know I can do it.

Q. With the 8-under, are any dangers looking ahead? I know you have three more rounds to play, but you've been there before.

KIRK TRIPLETT: The danger of looking ahead starts right when you land at the airport. You get thinking about what's going do happen in front of you and you're going to mess up, no matter what you're doing. That's what we do. That's what we try and do, play that hole and that shot that's right in front of you. I saw the scoring, I think it's excellent throughout the field. I was surprised, but not shocked at the good scoring, because I think last year if you would have shot 2 or 3 under the first day, you would have felt you had a pretty good round. If I'm not mistaken, maybe 5, 6, 7 under was leading after two days, maybe 5, 6, 7 under was second place after three days. I don't think that's the case this year unless the wind blows 30 miles an hour tomorrow and they put the pins next to the fringe. I don't see that happening.

Q. (Inaudible)?

KIRK TRIPLETT: I think so. I feel comfortable out here. That's not to say I didn't hit some poor shots or struggle at times. If I had to pick a golf course that I thought Kirk Triplett's game would fit and I thought Kirk Triplett would play well at, if I had to pick 10 courses during on the PGA TOUR during the year, this would be one of them, because you have to drive your ball pretty straight, and it's challenging around the green.

Q. You said you know you can do it. What is it exactly that you know you can do?

KIRK TRIPLETT: I know I can put up the numbers that are necessary for me to make a living out here. Probably the same way that a Major League pitcher goes, I know I can do if, I know how to get big league hitters out. I can't tell you how to do it, and I can't tell you how I do it, but I just know deep down inside that even if I hit some bad shots, play some bad rounds, have a bad stretch, I know it's in there, that I know how to do it, if I can get it out and find you.

Q. How long does that take you?

KIRK TRIPLETT: A long time, longer than I thought it would. I probably realized it after five or six years out here, but I probably felt much better about it after I won a golf tournament, which was ten years. I'm a slow learner. When I learn it I try to really learn it.

Q. The style of hat you wear, when did you start wearing that?

KIRK TRIPLETT: I just got it for sun protection. As a kid, you go to a junior tournament, you'll see a ton of kids wearing this kind of hat. I wore it all the time as a kid. I went and played in Australia and overseas a little bit, the sun is particularly bad in Australia, I came home and they said you need to wear something to protect your ears, other than a ball cap. I tried a few different things. This worked out. The first couple of years out on Tour I was easily recognized. I got some endorsement deals and that's continued. For me, it's very functional, it's a good hat.

Q. Do you expect a run on them?

KIRK TRIPLETT: No. I don't expect a run any time soon on these.

Q. (Inaudible)?

KIRK TRIPLETT: They've still got Loren. They've had me seven or eight years, Loren for longer than that. I hope I see you guys here later in the week.

End of FastScripts.

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