Hoag Classic Underway In Newport Beach, Triplett Looking For Win

NEWPORT BEACH, CA —The Hoag Classic golf tournament is ready to get underway, and pro golfer Kirk Triplett is prepared to defend his championship. With a purse of over $250,000 on the line, and the opportunity to fund raise for Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, he knows as well as any golfer that anything goes on the greens at the Newport Beach Country Club.

The tournament kicks off Wednesday and Thursday at the Newport Beach Country Club, with the tour's golfers playing with non-professionals in the Pro-Ams. Triplett, 57, was involved in a riveting sudden-death duel on the final holes in last year's competition on the senior tour.

In 2019, Triplett was unsure who would win as he made his way down the course, telling City News Service it was anyone's game.

"Woody (Austin) was making some birdies, parring easy holes, and I had an easy one on the 16th," Triplett said. "It looked like we could both birdie the 18... We ended up tied, and we just repeated each other's shots a couple of times. And other players like Scott McCarron had an eagle putt on 18...(but) missing the playoff by one."

Triplett added, "It always seems to play out that way on the last hole. Everybody expects the leader to birdie those last few holes, and a lot of time, the leaders don't."

The Hoag Classic raises money for Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, drawing celebrity golfers to the area for the chance to compete for a cause.

"I always enjoy going there. It's fun to play an older-style course," Triplett said. "This one's a lay-of-the-land type of course with old-style greens. You get some good blowing wind one day, and a hole is easy to play. Another day it's a very hard hole. I think players enjoy going there. And you get nice crowds."

This is a chance for Triplett and his fellow golfers to against their peers on the PGA Tour Champions and help out a local cause.

"In my seven or eight years out there, it's always a very congenial group of guys," Triplett said of the Pro-Am partners. "It's neat to get a chance to do that, to share our experience with AMs and people who sponsor the events."

Triplett said he recently took a couple of weeks off, but after "a little practice I physically feel good. We'll see how it translates on the course."

The key is, "You just want to have a chance to win," he said. "The winning part you don't have a lot of control over. I've won tournaments I shouldn't have won, and I've lost ones I should have won."

The Hoag Classic, previously titled the Toshiba Classic, is celebrating its 25th year.

It is the 22nd year with Hoag operating it and benefiting from the tournament. Konica Minolta and City National Park are also partners in the competition.

The tournament will showcase golfers such as Ernie Els, Fred Couples, Retief Goosen, Angel Cabrera, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, John Daly and Miguel Angel Jimenez challenging Triplett for a $1.8 million purse, and first-place prize of $270,000.

The tournament play begins Friday and continues through Sunday.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.