b'Kirk Tripletts career reaches its fifth decadeby Logan Groeneveld-MeijerS ome 50 years ago, the golf career of Kirk Triplett began in Pullman, Wash., over a conversation at the family dinner table.Contemplating taking up golf or skiing as a recreational activity, his family chose the former, making way for Tripletts decades-long attachment to the gamean attachment that includes 800 starts in PGA Tour-sanctioned events, 17 professional wins, 40 Major Championship berths and membership on a winning Presidents Cup team. Triplett last won on the PGA Tour Champions at the 2019 PURE Triplett, 63, now tees it up full-time on the PGA TourInsurance Championship, held at Pebble Beach. The tournament is Champions, where hes notched nine of his wins since turningin support of First Tee, in which junior golfers of that program have 50 in 2012. Original intentions with the game werent always tothe opportunity to team with tour players in the competition. make the levels he has.I didnt set out to be a tour player in any way, shapebig tour. He picked up his first win on the PGA Tour in 2000, or form, Triplett said of his first swings. I was just playingtaking home the Nissan Open (now Genesis Invitational) at the because my family and I had a good time, it was competitive,famed Riviera Country Club. That same year he qualified for the and we wanted to beat each other. winning U.S. Presidents Cup team. His second and third PGA Without many goals early on, Triplett and his family beganTour wins came in 2003 and 2006, respectively.their journey at the WSU Golf Course in Pullman, a 9-holer onLiving in Phoenix now and looking back on his relationship the edge of the universitys campus long before the days ofwith the game over decades of professional play, Triplett Palouse Ridge Golf Club, the vaunted championship course thatperceives it positively to be a constant puzzle.opened in 2008.Yes, its my job, he said, providing examples of how hed A natural athlete, Kirk picked up the game quickly andcasually practice his game at TPC Scottsdale without much competed regularly in the Washington Junior Golf Associationother responsibility. But its also where my happy place is. Its schedule of tournaments, as well as on the Pullman Highwhat I enjoy doing.You have to keep working at it and keep School golf team.trying different things.In the sports-minded Triplett family, Kirks younger sisterHaving accumulated his championship experience, he Shelly also took up golf, finishing runner-up at the 1987 PNGAadmitted winning again now is a primary goal, maybe even Junior Girls Amateur, and earning a scholarship to play fourmore than winning for the first time was. years on the University of Kansas womens team. His most recent Champions triumph came in 2019, and hes Kirk was selected for Team Washington in the 1979looking to connect his puzzle pieces six years on.Junior Americas Cup and received a golf scholarship from theYou have all these little steps that you want to take, and University of Nevada-Reno, where he played all four yearsyou know you need to take, and I want the payout one more on their mens golf team (and in 2000 was inducted into thetime, he said, referring to prizes beyond money. Holding the University of Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame). After graduatingtrophy.You get a whole bunch of text messages and emails with a degree in civil engineering in 1985, he turned down a jobfrom people you havent heard from in a long time. I would love offer from Boeing to instead turn professional. to have that one more time.Early in his pro career, Triplett traveled throughout Canada,One of the annual stops in his search for that victory is Asia and Australia competing in every tournament he could.the Boeing Classic, hosted by the Club at Snoqualmie Ridge in He finally earned his PGA Tour card through qualifying schoolSnoqualmie, Wash. Tripletts ties with the tournament are both in December 1989, with 1990 being his rookie year on thegeographical and familial.28 PACIFIC NORTHWEST GOLFER|JUN 2025'