First, at Last

By THOMAS BONK

Feb. 21, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

In 11 years and 265 previous PGA Tour events, Kirk Triplett was winless, but it wasn’t as if he had to rent out space in his floppy brimmed hat for extra money or anything. Actually, Triplett’s claim to fame was that among players who had never won a tournament (that’s zero), no one had won more money (that’s $4.2 million).

Well, Triplett sure knows how to wreck his place in history.

For anyone who thought all there is to Triplett is his Gilligan’s Island hat, a dream foursome with Davis Love III, Tommy Armour III and P.H. Horgan III and a career of not winning tournaments, we now have something else--an actual PGA Tour victory.

It has been a long and difficult journey for Triplett to find that first one and Sunday’s closing round of the Nissan Open was nothing different. But in the rain and wind at Riviera Country Club, the 37-year-old from Scottsdale, Ariz., built a three-shot lead with eight holes to go and managed to hang on with a closing 67 and a one-shot victory over Jesper Parnevik.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Triplett said.

He did not hesitate when asked if he wondered if his time would come.

“Every week,” he said.

As long as it has taken him to get to the winner’s circle, if you’re projecting the next Triplett victory, you can probably pencil in 2011.

It wasn’t decided until the last putt by the last player on the last hole on the last day. That was when Triplett gently guided a four-foot par putt into the hole at No. 18. Once the ball disappeared, Triplett raised his fist high into the air to celebrate.

If Triplett had missed the putt, he would have fallen into a playoff with Parnevik, whose 25-foot birdie putt at the 18th moved him to within one shot of Triplett.

Parnevik said he actually hoped Triplett would make his putt, even though it meant Parnevik missed a playoff.

“I was yelling to myself in my head,” Parnevik said. “Everyone knows he’s one of the nice guys out here. To finally get one has got to mean so much to him.”

Triplett accepted a $558,000 check and bumped his 2000 earnings to $877,767--already his best year and it’s only February.

It probably doesn’t matter that Triplett’s 12-under 272 total is the highest winning score in relation to par this year. Or that except for Parnevik, none of the heavy hitters made a run at him. All that should matter is that he won at Riviera, the land of Hogan and Snead and Nelson. And nothing can change that.

Meanwhile, Riviera still does not belong to Tiger Woods. One week after his six-tournament winning streak ended, Woods shot a 72 and tied for 18th. It was his poorest finish in his last 13 PGA Tour events, dating to the MCI Classic last April when he also tied for 18th.

“It’s just a bad round,” Woods said. “I really didn’t have it going this entire week. If I would have putted better, I would have been right there in the championship, but you can’t have everything.”

What Woods did have was this statistic: He was 37th in putting.

Parnevik alone carried the banner of the Big Names, and he did so by making his usual fashion statement. Parnevik’s ensemble was an intriguing color combination of black shirt and shocking pink pants. The Popsicle purple shirt must have been at the dry cleaners.

Triplett said he admired Parnevik’s pants.

“The Pepto-Bismol man,” Triplett said. “That was good because I was feeling a little queasy out there.”

Unlike the other better-known players who began the day close to the lead, Parnevik was the only one who challenged even a little bit. Fred Couples was two shots behind to begin the fourth round and shot 70 to tie for fifth.

Woods and David Duval were three shots back, but 17 others finished ahead of Woods, and Duval’s 74 left him tied for 31st.

Robin Freeman was third with a 68, and Russ Cochran was fourth. Couples finished in a tie for fifth with Steve Flesch, Stewart Cink, Bradley Hughes and Armour.

While Parnevik had trouble getting started with three three-putts in the first five holes, Triplett was four under at the turn and then birdied No. 10 when he knocked a wedge to five feet.

“My caddie kept telling me, ‘Doesn’t he know he hasn’t won before?’ ” Parnevik said. “He looked like Tiger Woods out there.”

Triplett gave a shot back at No. 12 when his second shot landed in the barranca. But he turned himself around quickly with a birdie at the par-three 13th. There was a slight wobble at the 15th when Triplett’s second shot plugged at the grassy top of the bunker. He took a drop and the ball hung on the lip. With one foot in and one foot out of the bunker, all Triplett could do was just get the ball somewhere on the green. He wound up two-putting from 30 feet for bogey.

But in the end, all his lack of experience in winning situations didn’t mean anything.

“Something kind of gnawed at me, though,” Triplett said. “I’d say to myself, ‘Well, I’ve never led after 13 holes’ and then, ‘Well, I’ve never led after 15.’ This time, I made it through 18.”

Triplett said he was satisfied with his life and his career before what happened Sunday at Riviera.

“It’s not as good a career if you don’t win a tournament. But it’s still a very successful career. Different people place different importance on winning. I haven’t won so much, so I don’t place too much importance on it.”

Let’s see him win another one and see how important it becomes. Maybe the next one won’t take 11 years.

THE FINISH LINE

272 (-12)--$558,000

Kirk Triplett: 67-70-68-67

273 (-11)--$334,800

Jesper Parnevik: 71-67-67-68

274 (-10)--$210,800

Robin Freeman: 65-72-69-68

OTHERS

276 (-8)--$105,090

Fred Couples: 72-66-68-70

279 (-5)--$37,731