MICHELOB CHAMPIONSHIP AT KINGSMILL

October 7, 2001

Kirk Triplett

KIRK TRIPLETT: Thanks.

KIRK TRIPLETT: I hadn't played in five weeks so I was very rested and I think that helped me in a lot of ways just staying very patient. I wasn't sure how I was going to play. I felt like I was playing pretty well, but you never know until you get under the gun and I was very happy with the way my game held up. I'd like to have one shot over. I'd like to hit that shot into 18 again. Just never got zeroed in on it. But I got a great break and still had a very makeable chip, you know, if I had hit it where I wanted to maybe 15, 20 feet left of the pin, that putt wouldn't have been any easier than the chip I ended up having. So I had my shot at it. I did know when I was hitting my second shot in that -- no, I didn't know that David had bogeyed 17, so I figured I'd still need to birdie bogey type thing to tie and then as we were walking up, I saw that he was at 15 and so at least he had to play the last hole anyway.

KIRK TRIPLETT: Yeah, that's what I was thinking about on 16, 17. We had a little backup there, Neal Lancaster got a ruling. I really wanted to hit a good shot because I knew he'd be standing there watching; I will about 10-, 12-footer really felt like if I could make that putt I felt that was my only chance to make that putt. I rolled it right in the center. I felt great going into 18, almost.

KIRK TRIPLETT: That wasn't that bad a shot. I always aim right down those pilings on the left, always have, I have played here a lot of years just get a little drift over there. If you don't - usually never thick enough to -- still get it up around that green. That's one of those sneaky holes out here. That's one of the tough holes. Probably has the highest stroke average, you know, for the length of the hole than you would really expect. I got a horrible lie, a yard away from the pilings and hit, I felt was a very good shot just advanced 40, 50 yards and get back in play. And felt like I hit a pretty good punch shot into the green. It came up short but there's not much to shoot at back in that corner, quite happy to make a 5 there and move on. Then I had a nice up-and-down on the next hole, where I kind of misjudged the wind back there and left that putt short in the center on the par 3, 13, about 10-, 12-footer. But then from then on, I took advantage of my chances.

KIRK TRIPLETT: Well, I am taking it all in. I watch the scoreboards. I know what is going on. I didn't realize he was -- he must have birdied either 13 or 14.

KIRK TRIPLETT: We were standing on the tee at the same time because that hole has a little backed up. I never saw a scoreboard. Last I knew he was 15. I had just birdied that hole to go to 12 so I figured I was three shots down. I didn't know I was 4. When we were up on the green on 15 I saw the scoreboard and saw him at 16. I thought well, what is the guy behind me. (Laughs) he's 11, so, you still trying to make the best scores that you can. Made that birdie there; made the birdie on 17, you see all of a sudden, when you got a four-shot lead and you are the guy behind, you are not thinking of it as a four-shot lead. You are going, let me get within two because the 2-shot swing on anyone hole is very possible, especially if you are first - if you get the birdie first. So I am not thinking it in terms of four. I wanted to make him have a two-shot lead or one-shot lead you know, playing 18. That's what he did. He had a one-shot lead.

KIRK TRIPLETT: They were talking about it on the range before I warmed up.

KIRK TRIPLETT: Yeah, everybody has a reaction to it.

KIRK TRIPLETT: I am not the guy that gets to make the decisions, so I am not going to say if it's right or wrong or what I feel, but you know, we're going forward with it; I will support the people that are doing it. They are supposed to be smarter than the rest of us; that's why we put them there.

KIRK TRIPLETT: No, not really. To me that felt more separate. Maybe that is because I was focused in on what I was doing. I know at home when I was at home for five weeks and I was very fortunate to be at home while we experienced this tragedy on September 11, I was lucky to be at home with my family, but I know it bothered me more there than, you know, today. So I do think about it, but this seems to be more removed from that, whether that's because it's thousands of miles away or not on American soil, I couldn't tell you.

KIRK TRIPLETT: I am going to Las Vegas tonight -- well not tonight. Not now. I am going to Vegas tomorrow. My flight was at 7:30, so I can't make it. I'd rather come in here and talk to you guys. (Laughter).

KIRK TRIPLETT: Commercial.

KIRK TRIPLETT: I was supposed to be off for two on for one off for two. I was supposed to play St. Louis. I was supposed to fly out Tuesday afternoon.

KIRK TRIPLETT: No.

KIRK TRIPLETT: Probably more than I would normally on a 5-week break because my boys started school, so I had some free time during the day. But, yeah, because I prepared once for the tournament I was going to play then I prepared again for this tournament.

KIRK TRIPLETT: To some degree I think it does. For me the way I approach it, I can't go like this (indicating blinders on) and not look at the scores, so I accept that. I say, all right, you look up there, see the scoreboard, if your name is not where you want it put your head down, make some birdies. That's what you got to do. So in that respect I am always looking at the guy that's above me. I am never looking at the guys that are behind me until maybe the very end. If I knew that David had a four-shot lead on me and I was standing on 18 and I had a two-shot lead over second place, I am not going to hit it in that lake to the left. I am just not going to do it. And that was kind of the case this time, but I had a chance to catch David, I felt, so I tried to hit my very best shot right down the very left center of the fairway because that's your best chance of making a birdie.

KIRK TRIPLETT: 4-iron.

KIRK TRIPLETT: Yeah. The wind is kind of left-to-right.

KIRK TRIPLETT: I was in the scoring trailer and there's no TV or anything in there, so all we had was the radio, so I really wasn't -- I was just waiting for him to make his score on the last hole. So I didn't know until actually I just talked to my wife on the phone and she said that he putted it up to three or four feet and had a tough little putt and rolled it right in the center. I didn't know any of that what is going on. All I knew was that he made a 4. So wasn't really thinking about it. It was up to him. I couldn't do anything about it.

KIRK TRIPLETT: No, that's probably easier to just stay in that trailer where nobody is looking at you. (Laughter) because then when he makes par you can slump down and say, God -- and the camera is not on you. (Laughs).

KIRK TRIPLETT: I feel great about today's round. I closed well and had -- I had my chances this week. I made -- I can make some putts and I didn't make as many as I do some weeks. I started out the week, double bogeyed the very first hole of the tournament, so you know, I was kind of looking at flights in my mind Friday night after that. Here I am getting second place. So and that's where I think the patience thing paid off. I have done well in this tournament in the past and had struggled on the last nine holes of the tournament. I think one year I was leading the year Jim Gallagher Jr. Won. I was leading maybe with maybe 9, 10 holes to go. I think I might have finished 30th. When I made that bogey on 11 I just tried to, all right, you have had the wheels come off here, you know what that feels like, so let's just keep going keep trying. I hit some good shots coming in. That helps too.

KIRK TRIPLETT: How close?

KIRK TRIPLETT: I have considered him an elite player for a long time. He's very good player. He has got everything.