For Kirk Triplett (Stats | Bio) , what he carries on his golf bag this week is almost as important as what he puts inside.

To raise awareness for adoption programs, the golfer from Scottsdale, Ariz., travels with a specially designed golf bag featuring information about a different foster child from the 20 cities where Triplett is playing on the PGA Tour this year.

During the Masters Tournament, the faces of 13-year-old Crystal and her 12-year-old brother Preston, two Augusta-area children looking to be adopted, smile out to the crowd.

"There's a lot of causes out there," he said after his practice round Tuesday. "This one, I can't think of any one more basic than this. Finding them homes allows them to break the cycle."

Triplett's Tour Fore Adoption program started as a personal one for him and his wife, Cathi.

"It's a cause that's close to our hearts because we have two adopted kids," he said. "Both of them were born under difficult circumstances."

After struggling to have children, the Tripletts looked into adoption procedures before giving birth to twin boys in 1996. They still chose to adopt a girl, Alexis, now 4, and a boy, Kobe, 2.

They became public advocates a few years ago when Triplett formed a partnership with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a nonprofit group formed by the founder of the Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers chain.

Before his death in 2002, Thomas, who was an adopted child, worked to raise awareness nationally for the estimated 150,000 children in North America's foster care systems.

Triplett was the host for the inaugural Dave Thomas Desert Classic last month, raising $500,000 for the foundation, and has formed the Fore Adoption Foundation to provide funding for parents seeking to adopt but facing financial difficulties.

Triplett's bag, which debuted in January at the FBR Open in Phoenix, also displays the Dave Thomas Foundation's phone number and information near the fliers for the featured children.

"They come up with children they feel have been waiting for a while for adoption," said Mike Tanoury, a Tour Fore Adoption manager. "The older children get, the harder it gets for them to be adopted."

In the five other tournaments Triplett has carried the bag with him, he said, golf patrons have approached him to let him know they were adopted or a foster parent.

"There's really, I think, kind of an untapped network out there," he said. "The Tour's been very good about supporting our efforts and what we're doing"

Reach Vicky Eckenrode at (706) 868-1222, ext. 115, or vicky.eckenrode@augustachronicle.com.