Triplett won’t give up

There is no noticeable frustration in his voice as he discusses the latest in a series of physical problems that have severely limited his ability to compete on the PGA Tour the last three years.

But one gets the feeling, nonetheless, that Kirk Triplett is eager for another chance to test himself against the best golfers on the planet.

That chance probably won’t present itself, however, for at least another eight to 10 weeks, as the Moses Lake native and former Pullman High School standout continues another extended off-season of rehab after undergoing surgery last November to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Reached by phone at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Friday, the 46-year-old Triplett said he is planning to make his first PGA Tour appearance of 2008 in the John Deere Classic on July 10-13, in hopes of playing eight or nine more events this year.

“I’m still not hitting any full shots – just chipping and putting,” he said of the limited postsurgery progress he has made. “In three weeks, I’ll probably start hitting some balls again, but then it will probably take another six weeks to kind of build back up to where I could go back out there and actually have a chance to be competitive.”

Triplett, by his admission, is becoming much too familiar with such an off-season scenario – although this one is a bit more prolonged than those of his immediate past.

A three-time champion and winner of more than $13 million dollars on the tour, Triplett was limited to playing in just 18 events in 2005 because of tendon problems in his right elbow that required surgery, and he finished outside the top 125 on the PGA’s official money list for the first time in his career.

The following year, complications from that surgery forced him to shut down again in August after earning $766,593 and regaining his exempt status with the help of a minor medical exemption.

Then early last year, during The Players Championship, he first encountered the shoulder pain that plagued him throughout the rest of the year.

“It was the kind of injury that was eventually going to need surgery. It’s not going to heal,” Triplett said. “But by the time I got it diagnosed in the summer, I just decided to play out the year and have the surgery at the end.”

Despite the series of physical setbacks that have limited his playing time, Triplett does not seem overly dejected. He has taken advantage of his downtime to spend additional time with his family and is coaching his twin sons’ Little League team this spring.

“That’s something I’ve never been able to commit to in the past,” he said. “It’s been nice, really. Being away (from the tour) hasn’t been all that difficult. I haven’t been yearning to get back out there.”

By finishing out of the money list’s top 125 last season, despite playing in 25 events, Triplett lost his all-exempt status, but is in his second and final year of having “winner non-exempt” status because of his victory in the 2006 Chrysler Classic.

That means he will be eligible to play in all the tour’s open events but none of the invitationals, once he returns.

If he plays in only eight or 10 events this year, it is unlikely he will finish among the top 125 money winners, but he can use another minor medical exemption in 2009 and possibly regain his status as a fully exempt player. For example, if the average number of events the rest of the top 125 money winners play is 28 and Triplett plays in only 10, he will have the difference – 18 events – to play in next year, and if he earns enough in those that he would have placed among the top 125 in 2008, he will be fully exempt again.

“I’ll just play in a limited number of events this year, and then next year will kind of be my year to see if I can rebound,” Triplett said. “I’ll basically have most of 2009 to see if I can become an exempt player again.”

And to see, as well, if he can still compete effectively again on golf’s biggest stage.

To do that, however, he feels he must become healthy enough to get back into the practice and pretournament routines that have served him so well throughout his solid career.

“I played hurt most of the last three years, and I’ve proven that doesn’t work for me,” he said. “I finished the worst I ever finished on the money list last year, and that was probably a culmination of the two years before when I didn’t practice as much as I did in the past.

“My goal is to get back, physically, to where I can do my routines again, and if I find out, hey, maybe I’m past my time and I’m done, I’ll be fine with that. I’ll just wait on the Champions Tour.

“But I would rather find that out being healthy rather than not being able to do it because I’m hurt and can’t practice as much as I’d like.”