First, at Last

Kirk Triplett is such a likable guy he unwittingly took what little drama came from the 2000 Nissan Open. When the second-place guy is rooting for the leader, it kind of removes the edge.

Triplett had a four-foot par putt on No. 18 to win the tournament Sunday. What seemed like a foregone conclusion a couple of holes earlier now had a little drama to it after Jesper Parnevik holed a 25-foot birdie putt to pull within a stroke of Triplett.

A miss for a bogey would mean extra holes and an extra chance for Parnevik.

“I wanted to be in the playoff,” Parnevik said, “but I couldn’t help hoping he would make the putt.”

How couldn’t you pull for the guy who had never won in 265 previous PGA Tour events?

Triplett has been driving, pitching and putting for money since 1985.

On the PGA Tour he kept doing just well enough to keep getting invited back. He had 39 top-10 finishes and has finished in second place five times and made more than $4 million.

Triplett has won before, but the type of tournaments he captured were far from the limelight, in places like Taiwan for $18,000 first prizes.

This is the big show, a loaded field at Riviera Country Club, with $558,000 going to the winner.

When the dream finally came true, when the putt rolled in, he thrust a fist skyward.

His face bore a look of disbelief, and he looked as if he didn’t quite know what to do next.

He did know what he felt.

“A lot of relief,” Triplett said.

It wasn’t quite perfect. Then again, after 15 years he’s in no position to call his shots.

For one thing, his breakthrough came on one of the few events his wife didn’t join him. He estimates she attends 23 of the 25 tournaments he plays a year, but she chose to spend this one back home with their twin 4-year-old boys in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Nearly two hours after he finished playing he still couldn’t reach his wife on his cell phone.

“I can’t get through,” he said.

The family actually might have been better off at home. When rain didn’t pour down on Riviera Country Club, gloomy skies loomed above. The winds shifted throughout the day.

It would have been nice for Triplett to have a few more people around to share the moment, though.

The scary weather kept attendance to under 33,000, well below the typical crowds of 50,000-plus that usually jam the course for the final round.

After Tiger Woods went bogey-bogey-bogey on holes 7-9 to kill his chances at victory, the fans started streaming for the exits so quickly it looked like Dodger Stadium in the seventh inning.

There was plenty of grass visible on the hill that forms the natural amphitheater behind the 18th green. Many of the fans still standing around as the final group drew closer were there only because the marshals wouldn’t let them leave while the earlier groups putted out. When guards did drop the ropes, the fans left by the dozens.

By the time Triplett gave his victory speech there were more volunteers and sponsors hanging around than fans.

That didn’t stop Triplett from savoring the moment.

He kissed the winner’s trophy--”It’s cold,” he noted. He continued to hold it aloft while the photographers clicked away. “You don’t know how heavy this is,” he said.

These things all take some adjustment.

It’s too bad Triplett’s long-awaited day in the sun couldn’t have a little more . . . sunshine.

There weren’t too many bright moments. Woods and David Duval played together in the final round for the first time in their careers, the pairing the television networks have craved for more than a year. Not only did they have no impact on the leaderboard Sunday, they couldn’t even beat the third member of their group, the undistinguished J.P. Hayes. Hayes shot a final-round 71, one stroke better than Woods and three better than Duval.

Triplett beat ‘em all. And now he never again will be asked when he’s going to win his first tournament.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com