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FUNAI GOLF CLASSIC AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT

October 22, 2004

Kirk Triplett

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA

NELSON SILVERIO: Welcome, Kirk Triplett. You followed a nice 66 yesterday with a solid 67 today. Great position for the weekend. I hear the conditions out there are getting a little blustery now. Comment on the course conditions as you were heading in.

KIRK TRIPLETT: I think it was a little bit more windy than it was yesterday. I didn't play in the morning yesterday, but in the afternoon there was barely a breath of wind. I haven't played these courses too many times without a little bit of wind.

There wasn't anything unexpected. It was blowing out of the regular direction. Probably the biggest difference that I noticed with the Palm Course was how firm the greens are. They're new, but I thought they were pretty consistent. I needed to allow somewhere between 10 and 15 yards of bounce and into the wind about 5 to 7, and they seemed very playable. The greens are in great shape.

But other than that, there seems to be a little bit more rough this year, which puts a premium on driving the ball. Birdies are -- 11-under is tied for the lead right now. You know you're halfway there, so somebody is going to shoot 10 more under on the weekend. I've just got to keep going, putting up those 5-under numbers.

Q. (Inaudible).

KIRK TRIPLETT: The winning score, you double what it is the first day and then cut it in half on the weekend and that's your winning score.

Q. (Inaudible).

KIRK TRIPLETT: It was 10 the first day, 20, and then cut that in half, so it would be 30. It's not going to be 30. Is that metric (laughter)?

Q. Typically is it harder here on the weekend?

KIRK TRIPLETT: I think the pin placements become more difficult on the Magnolia for sure, but I think the Magnolia greens are more receptive this year than they have been in years past. Yeah, anything can happen. 2-under might be a great score tomorrow if it blows 35 miles an hour. You have to have the mindset -- you can't be thinking at 11-under that it's going to be a winning score. That's what I'm trying to say.

Q. (Inaudible).

KIRK TRIPLETT: It's not going to be the halfway lead, but you're near it.

Q. You had the twins running around when you were out in the hall yesterday doing some sort of current events type thing with the newspaper. Were you trying to get them out of your way or what were you doing? You were having them look something up in USA Today.

KIRK TRIPLETT: We were just killing time. That was my version of home schooling, my two minutes' worth.

Q. (Inaudible).

KIRK TRIPLETT: Well, now they're in school, third grade, the twins are, and we probably go to six, seven, eight tournaments a year. I'm playing 24. We used to go to 20 tops, so when they're in school, it takes a big commitment on mom's part to do that.

Q. What was clicking for you today?

KIRK TRIPLETT: I was hitting the ball reasonably well. I had a couple of good breaks. I hit my second shot on the par 5, No. 7, hit the pin, and it stopped about a foot away, so that kind of jump-started my round. I got a nice eagle there, and I had birdied the hole earlier.

Then I made a couple birdies on the back and just hit a horrible second shot on the par 5, the 14th, and dumped it in the water. I made a 6 there.

I made a good save on the next hole and then birdied 17 to end up at 11-under.

Q. Do you like this type of scoring versus when the winning score is right around 10?

KIRK TRIPLETT: I've done well in either one, so sometimes it can kind of overwhelm you a little bit. In Las Vegas two weeks ago, I was playing very well but not making any putts, and I ended up missing the cut. I got caught on a windy day and things weren't going my way, so I've been on the other side of it, as well, and this week, yesterday I go out, and the first nine holes, kind of a little shaky, hitting it, but made probably four 20-foot putts in the first nine holes. All of a sudden -- I wasn't playing that well. I played very well like I thought the last 27 holes. I had a lot of chances. I'm hoping to keep that up.

Q. Do people ever use the term Triplett twins?

KIRK TRIPLETT: Once in a while. It's better than having three of them.

Q. We had Dudley here yesterday. He basically affirmed that.

What do you do in the off season?

KIRK TRIPLETT: Not a whole lot. I play one tournament, do some charity events. We have a number of guys who do things for the church or the charity and we try to play in each other's stuff in the off season. I'll go play that Callaway tournament at Pebble Beach, but I won't go much farther than that. I don't do too much.

I've been playing 15 years. I used to go to Japan and I don't do that much anymore. It was just never that attractive to me. I did that before I got on Tour, went to Australia and other places, but with four kids you kind of try and stick close to home when you don't have to go somewhere.

Q. During the off season is it any different than a typical day when you're not playing during the season?

KIRK TRIPLETT: It's probably the same as a typical day except there's no golf. I don't do too much. It's gotten to the point over the last few years, like a lot of guys my age, trying to do some more physical fitness stuff to prepare for the season.

I think that's one thing I did different this year. I did a very good job of sticking with a workout routine and did it over a two-month period uninterrupted, and then I was really ready to play this year by the end of the summer. I wasn't dying and dead. Last couple summers before this one, I just rolled around and I had nothing. It's been kind of a learning process. I don't go into the off season with any big goals of changing my swing or anything like that. I usually just try and go away and start over again around Christmastime.

Q. (Inaudible) -- at Sony or Mercedes, whatever the case may be, or Hope?

KIRK TRIPLETT: Not for me, no, I need two weeks before that to practice. I could play okay, but the comfort level doesn't come until about the 1st of February for me. I kind of like it that way. I enjoy it because I kind of have lower expectations. If you hit a bad shot or two, you can say, "Oh, I'm just a little rusty." It's worked okay for me for the years I've played.

But I am involved in some charity stuff, too. The Dave Thomas Foundation, my wife and I run a pretty good-sized tournament the first week of March, so I'll spend a little time doing that. I've gotten involved in a couple little business things, too. I sit in the office and answer emails.

Q. (Inaudible).

KIRK TRIPLETT: Well, for me I need different things. I can't be golf 24 hours a day every day. The guys after my round wanted to know about Vijay. When Tiger was playing great they wanted to know about Tiger, but when Vijay is playing great they want to know about Vijay; what does he do? What does he have for breakfast? I said, "I don't know Vijay. He's on the practice range, I'm goofing off. How am I going to get to meet him?" I have what works for me. I have to be distracted a little bit so I don't get out there and try and tinker with the stuff that's actually working. That's what I would do. I would fix what isn't broken and leave what is, and I'd become a big hodgepodge of stuff.

Q. Has Tabasco ever given you a shirt that you refused to wear? Maybe they just look better on you than say Woody or Hoch or some of those other guys. They almost look like they're trying to be obnoxious about those things.

KIRK TRIPLETT: Everybody wears different kind of stuff. They don't make anything that's all white (laughter).

Q. (Inaudible).

KIRK TRIPLETT: Well, you're talking about some business decisions and the philosophy of the Tour and what maybe is best for the players or what's best for the Tour. They have some real issues. In my mind, I think the Commissioner would like to play every single week so nobody else can get a foothold. You don't want your product, your best players, playing in all those events at the expense of your sponsors during the season, so in some ways you need to have the season be pretty long so you don't have a whole bunch of these tournaments that guys can go play in in the off season.

Golfers aren't like these other guys. They won't sit at home, most of them. They'll play and play and play. You've got Korea this year, Mexico City, a whole bunch of things.

Q. (Inaudible).

KIRK TRIPLETT: I don't know if it would be every week, but it would be enough that guys might not play as much, you know what I'm saying? They'd still play the same golf. Now they play five off-season tournaments instead of two. I will tell you the biggest difference from other sports is we have to go play to get paid. They get paid X dollars and just work until they're done, so it's kind of hard to sit there at home sometimes when they're playing for $3 and a half million somewhere. You feel like you ought to be out making a living. Does that make sense to you?

Q. Do you ever watch golf in the off season?

KIRK TRIPLETT: Uh-huh. Do I watch, play? I usually try to watch if my friends are doing well. I'll have it on in the background. I mean, I won't sit there and watch, it's mostly background.

NELSON SILVERIO: All right, thank you, Kirk.

End of FastScripts.

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