A golden breakthrough for Xander Schauffele

Kirk Triplett, he of the ever-present bucket hat, has had better years, golf-wise. He has three wins on the PGA TOUR and eight on PGA TOUR Champions - two of those in 2019. But never had Triplett, 58, made news like he did when he put a Black Lives Matter sticker on his golf bag at the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship at Firestone Country Club in August. "Just to say that I personally hear what's going on and I'm in agreement that issues of racial equality and social justice need to be addressed," he says of his decision to apply the sticker after the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others. It will remain on the bag as he finishes the season close to home at this week's Charles Schwab Championship at Phoenix Country Club. Sometimes the biggest statements start with the smallest gestures, and so it was with Triplett, who estimates he has given somewhere between 10 and 20 media interviews since his BLM sticker caught people's attention. Mostly, he says, the response has been positive. Sometimes, he admits, it's been virulently negative. But he's not alone in the cause. At the TOUR Championship in September, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan pledged $100 million to support racial and social justice causes over the next 10 years. Charles Howell III is offering performance-based bonuses on the Advocates Professional Golf Association Tour, which aims to bolster diversity at all levels of golf. Then there's Triplett's large, square sticker, displayed prominently under his name on his PING staff bag. The golfer and his family - wife Cathi; twin biological sons Conor and Sam, 24; and adoptees Alexis, 20, and Kobe, 18 - all had a say in the sticker, and they all agreed that the time was right. Kobe is African American, which took on new meaning given the high-profile events of last spring and summer, plus the fact that he had recently gotten his driver's license. What if he had an encounter with the police? What if someone misinterpreted a gesture or a comment? Who would deescalate? What would that look like? Who would be nominally responsible for a safe outcome, and on whose shoulders would it actually fall? The complexity and urgency of these questions, and the fact that they would land on Kobe as opposed to Conor, Sam and Alexis, struck Triplett as unfair. "We talked about it at home during the pandemic," he says. "I had a lot of time off, and at the behest of a couple of my kids - the sticker was actually bought by one of my older sons. Because the message in my family is often, ‘OK, you're talking a good game, what are you going to do?' So he gave me the sticker and said, ‘Here's this in case you're ready to do something.'" Triplett was. There was no freighted ceremony - he just put the sticker on the bag. It didn't take long to get noticed. "I really didn't consider that there was going to be all of this media interest, and that's because I was involved in my own personal journey," he says. "To understand that Kobe had to behave differently than my other three kids really brought home the point for me that hey, there's some racism there. It made me want to participate in some way and send a message to the African American community that hey, I hear what you're saying for the first time. "I'm 58 years old and just beginning to understand," he continues. "It's not an easy thing to get. When you understand it's different, you go, Oh, this is a problem." Online commenters have occasionally seemed intent on a back-and-forth that Triplett says he isn't interested in having. On a more personal level, some have told him that while it's great that he adopted an African American son, he's gone the wrong way with the sticker. "That helped me understand the frustration level that a lot of African American people must feel," he says. "It gave me an idea for the first time what the word systemic means. Dealing with overt racism is probably significantly easier because it has a face, it has a person that's doing something that's pointing right at you. But when the system is doing it and there's no face, like this is just kind of the way things are, where do you go with that? How do you explain that to people? And I just got a little teeny, tiny part of that." He will peel the sticker off, eventually. He wants to do more than make a statement; he wants to take a more hands-on, boots-on-the-ground approach to the problems of injustice. "Golfers are predisposed to help those in their community that need help," he says. "The first step is acknowledging that there are issues that need to be addressed. Some of it is opportunity. If you walk into a golf shop, you don't very often see an African American guy standing behind the counter, even. You need more penetration into all aspects of golf." Although son Sam, who played for Northwestern, is trying to make it as a pro golfer, Kobe isn't really into golf. He's more interested in computers. Whenever Triplett asks his youngest son if he wants to go to the course, he gets the same answer: "Maybe tomorrow, Dad." That's fine for an 18-year-old high school senior contemplating nine holes or hitting a bucket of balls. But for Triplett and the TOUR, for Howell and too many others to count, that answer was no longer sufficient on the issue of racial justice. It was time. It was past time. For them, as it was for so many Americans and others, tomorrow was today. The sticker is just the start.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The PGA TOUR, in conjunction with AT&T, the Monterey Peninsula Foundation and Pebble Beach Company, today announced that the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am will be played without the traditional multi-day pro-am format due to local COVID-19 circumstances in the Monterey Peninsula. The professional portion, featuring 156 players, will be played as scheduled, February 8-14, 2021, and will be held on only two courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course. "We are incredibly grateful for the commitment of our title sponsor AT&T, corporate partners, PGA TOUR, Pebble Beach Company, Monterey Peninsula Country Club and volunteer community," said Steve John, Tournament Director and Monterey Peninsula Foundation CEO. "While we will truly miss watching the actors, musicians, athletes and other amateur participants that make this event so special, we are pleased to continue on with the professional competition, enabling the Foundation to support nonprofits in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties. Our charitable giving will target basic needs like food insecurity, educational inequities and health inequities brought on by the pandemic." The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2021, had previously announced spectators will not be on-site at this year's event. Through the unwavering support of AT&T, the second-longest running title sponsor on the PGA TOUR, the tournament will continue to maximize charitable contributions in the area. Since 1947, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has generated more than $176 million for charities in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties. "While the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am may look different, AT&T is proud to continue our legacy of supporting the Monterey Peninsula Foundation and is committed to ensuring a positive impact on the local charities who benefit from the tournament proceeds each year," said Lori Lee, CEO of AT&T Latin America and Global Marketing Officer. "It's unfortunate that we won't be hosting the amateur portion of the tournament, but the safety of the fans, the players and the volunteers is our top priority. We look forward to welcoming the fans and the amateur players back next year." In addition, a pro-am will be conducted Wednesday morning to support local charitable giving. The ‘Every Shot Counts' pro-am will allow participants the opportunity to help drive grantmaking by targeting four key initiatives. Just as every shot counts, every dollar contributed will be invested by Monterey Peninsula Foundation in critical areas brought on by the pandemic. Over the last five months, the PGA TOUR has successfully hosted Wednesday pro-ams, an integral part of tournament week. With a limited number of amateur participants, the pro-am is conducted in accordance with a comprehensive health and safety plan, including COVID-19 testing. Since the tournament moved to the Monterey Peninsula in 1947, the final action has unfolded on the iconic holes of Pebble Beach Golf Links. The tournament plans to return to the traditional pro-am format - conducted over three courses - in 2022. "This was a very difficult decision, but the right one given the recent surge in COVID-19 cases," said Bill Perocchi, Chief Executive Officer of Pebble Beach Company. "Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have put the health and safety of our guests, employees and community first. We know this will create challenges for many local charities this year, but we are confident that the incredible giving associated with this event will continue well into the future. We appreciate the support from Monterey County and the State of California in helping to ensure a safe and successful professional tournament, as well as from our partners at AT&T, the PGA TOUR and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation." The 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which was won by Nick Taylor in 2020, will be broadcast by CBS, Golf Channel, PGA TOUR LIVE, DIRECTV's "PGA TOUR Experience" and PGA TOUR Radio. Fans also can follow along the tournament's social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. "The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am's lineup of celebrities competing with the PGA TOUR's best players with the Monterey Peninsula as the backdrop has been a perfect marriage of sports and entertainment since 1947," said Tyler Dennis, Executive Vice President and President, PGA TOUR. "The PGA TOUR and our partners have maintained that the health and safety for all involved with our events and the communities in which we play is our No. 1 priority, and for that reason - together with AT&T, the Monterey Peninsula Foundation and Pebble Beach Company - we feel strongly this decision, while difficult, was the right call to make given the current environment. We thank our title sponsor AT&T for their support of this reimagined event and for the positive impact that will continue in the region through the charitable initiatives of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation." For more information about the tournament, visit www.attpbgolf.com. For more information about the Monterey Peninsula Foundation and opportunities to give, visit www.montereypeninsulafoundation.org.

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