Triplett Has No Defense for 81

How to disappear after leading the tournament: We bring you Kirk Triplett, the defending champion, who followed up his first-round 66 with a 10-over-par 81 on Friday and missed the cut.

It’s the first time a first-round leader missed the cut in a tournament since Rodney Pampling at the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie.

It was an unusual round, to say the least. Triplett had four birdies, six bogeys and four double bogeys.

Even while he was playing, Triplett says he was thinking about taking two weeks off at home.

“I was already there,” he said.

When was that?

“On the 10th green,” he said.

Triplett says he was too mentally tired to keep grinding and blamed his schedule of playing seven times in eight weeks.

“I just didn’t have enough toughness to fight it out,” he said. “You keep fighting it, but you’re going the wrong way.”

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All things considered, Brandel Chamblee figured he could put up with a little rain Friday.

Chamblee arrived at Riviera this week coming off what he called “probably the worst start of my career. I hit bad, I chipped bad, I did everything bad. Just one of those horrific starts.”

He had doubts, teeing off early Friday morning, that he was going to get his round in. “I kept thinking [tournament officials] were going to cancel it,” Chamblee said. “ ‘Come on, cancel it.’ No one is going to watch in this weather.”

But after sloshing through five holes and two birdies, the weather broke, in more ways than one, for Chamblee.

“Out of nowhere . . . ‘Is that blue sky?’ ” Chamblee said. “ ‘Please! Come toward us!’ ”

Finally, the rain stopped. And Chamblee closed out his second consecutive 68 with birdies on the 17th and 18th holes, leaving him one stroke back at six-under 136 for the tournament.

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The secret to good play the first two days? The same as it has been for centuries: Just have fun.

One threesome in particular had no problem with that. Rocco Mediate, Dennis Paulson and Duffy Waldorf--three of the most colorful and loquacious members of the PGA Tour--were paired together for the first two rounds and Team Fun fared quite well.

Mediate shot 67-70 and is two strokes off the lead. Paulson shot 70-68 and is three strokes back. Waldorf is six strokes back after rounds of 71-70.

“I yack, Dennis yacks and Duffy will yack if we get him going,” Mediate said. “It’s easier to play that way, it’s more relaxing. Half the time no one is listening, but we’re yacking anyway.”

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The best round of the day was turned in by Michael Muehr, an eight-under 63.

Muehr, 29, finished tied for second last year at the Inland Empire Open on the Buy.com Tour. His best PGA Tour finish is a 41st this year at Torrey Pines.

Muehr is at 137, two shots behind the co-leaders.

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The cut fell at even-par 142. Notables who missed: two-time champion Fred Couples (73-72--145); Phil Mickelson (73-74--147); and 1996 champion Craig Stadler (71-78--149).