Excerpts from Barbasol Championship winner Trey Mullinax’s interview in the media centre…
We would like to welcome the winner of the 2022 Barbasol Championship, Trey Mullinax. Congratulations, just a few comments on the week.
Trey: Yeah, what a week. Tired. It was a long day today, it was a grind. But
we stayed sharp, we stayed focused pretty much all day. We knew it was going to be a
grind, we knew we were going to get wore down, but we had to just keep at it, keep firing
and at the end of the day I walked away with the low score.
Related: Trey Mullinax’s 106th start on PGA Tour a winning one
A lot of stopping and starting, that’s golf, that stuff happens. How were you
able to kind of keep yourself in check and not try to get too far ahead of yourself?
Trey: My family being here was huge. During the rain delays I’d kind of go
back and forth and see them. You know, having your kids there will keep you occupied
pretty quick so we would wrestle and watch movies and all kinds of stuff, so it was pretty
easy to keep occupied during the rain delay.
How cool is that to be heading over to make your first start at The Open Championship, at St. Andrews?
Trey: I mean, what an incredible honour to be able to go over there and play. What a dream come true to be able to go to St. Andrews on the 150th and be able to play.
I’ve got a lot of logistics to take care of here in just a little bit, but man, super excited and
ready to go over there and try to figure out that golf course.
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Can you remember the last time you had such a fist pump on a walk-off putt so to
speak?
Trey: National Championship in 2014 with Coach Seawell. It was a special moment. Both of them are great. This one might get it a little bit, but I don’t know, they’re pretty close.
A lot of people will say this is an alternative event or a second-tier event. For
someone like you on that 18th green looking for their first PGA Tour win and a spot in The Open on the line, how much did this moment, this result, this weekend mean to you?
Trey: I don’t know any second-tier players out there. This is a great event. Everybody playing in this event is an amazing golfer and they’re on the PGA Tour. And yeah, you might not be at the Scottish, but you’re playing against the best golfers. That never changed in my mind. I’m playing against the best and I want to win, so it was great to go out and do that.
Are you one to pick the brain of your former teammate and fellow Kentuckian, Justin Thomas, a little bit when you get over there? You played with him at Alabama, correct?
Trey: I did.
Are you going to pick his brain when you get over there?
Trey: Yeah, I’m hoping to. I’ve got to get there first and figure out accommodations and all that stuff. We’ll be booking everything now, but I’m really excited about going over there and I’m hoping — I’m sure he’s texted me or called me, so I’m looking forward to seeing him and celebrating.
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What was going through your mind when the shot on the green appeared to be rolling downhill toward the edge and looked like it was going downhill. Were you just kind of staying stop, stop, give you a good chance?
Trey: Yeah, the wind was a little bit off the right and I hit it exactly where I wanted to thinking the wind might push it a little bit. It was an aggressive shot, but at the time
it called for an aggressive moment. So Kevin (Streelman) hit a great shot in there about nine feet, 10 feet so I knew he’s been putting really well and I knew that I had to at least give myself a chance. Bailing out left was not it. So we took an aggressive line, I hit a great shot. I never thought it was going to go in the water. I knew it had enough spin on it, I knew it was a pitching wedge, it wasn’t really going to bounce that much. When it landed on the green I saw it rolling, I was like okay. It just kind of kept rolling away from the hole and I was like all right, it was a good shot, stop, stop. But it kind of kept rolling and I saw it stop. I knew I was going to have an uphill putt, which is huge.
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It felt a lot, especially on the back nine, you and Kevin were having a back and
forth when you guys were kind of separating yourself. Can you take us inside that
battle and what was it like trying to go against a guy who’s won twice on the Tour
already?
Trey: Yeah, like I said before, being able to play with him for 36 holes was an absolute pleasure. He is one of the nicest men out here, polite, just unreal guy. So we were
having so much fun and to have that battle with him was, for a guy like him to lean on me
and give me a hug after the round just shows you how great of a guy he is. So it was an
honour to battle it out with him.
