THE 150TH OPEN

July 16, 2022

Trey Mullinax

Mixed Zone

TREY MULLINAX: That was fun.

Q. What did you do yesterday?

TREY MULLINAX: What did I do yesterday?

Q. When you finished.

TREY MULLINAX: I went and had pizza.

Q. Not dinner, but was making the cut an issue for you? Did you do anything special at the end?

TREY MULLINAX: I made bogey on 17 and just had par 18. I was 1-under going into 17 and had a really iffy lie. Didn't know if it would jump or not. Just tried to take 6 out of play and just make 5 with 18 left.

Q. Does this week feel like a blur at all to you?

TREY MULLINAX: A little bit of a blur.

Q. Where were you at this point last week?

TREY MULLINAX: At this point last week? What's today, Saturday? I was playing that Barbasol Championship. We weren't playing golf, actually. We were delayed, and we played 34 Sunday. So I was with my kids a lot.

Q. After you won the trophy and got all the media attention, how did you get over here on that Sunday?

TREY MULLINAX: Man, so I didn't have my passport with me. So I had to go home, get my passport, go to JFK on Monday morning, fly from JFK to Dublin, Dublin to Edinburgh, Edinburgh here.

I got here at like -- I left my house at 5:00 a.m. Monday morning, got here at 8:00 on Tuesday, and then teed off at like 1:30 for 18 holes.

Q. When's the last time you travelled to the UK?

TREY MULLINAX: Since 2014.

Q. Had you not heard any horror stories about golf clubs being lost in Dublin?

TREY MULLINAX: We had some stuff going in that direction with some other players, but the guys here were great enough. I had a backup set if I needed one.

Q. Oh, you did?

TREY MULLINAX: Yeah.

Q. How far of a drive was it to get your passport?

TREY MULLINAX: They were very kind, the TOUR was. They flew me home and then flew me to JFK as well. So it was an hour flight home, went home, got my passport, spent the night in my bed. Then went back to the airport, and then they flew me to JFK.

Q. Has the TOUR ever flown you anywhere?

TREY MULLINAX: No. It was NetJets, I think, is who did it.

Q. How many hours of sleep did you have Sunday night?

TREY MULLINAX: I'd say three. Probably three hours of sleep. Then probably about none to zero on Monday. I was actually okay Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday I was really tired.

Q. Did you have The British Open in mind when you went up to Barbasol?

TREY MULLINAX: That's why I didn't have my passport, no. I was in such good form heading into that week (laughter).

I've been playing really well all year. I knew I was close to playing some really good golf, and it's just one of those years where hadn't had the weekends or the stretches yet. I knew I was playing good, so I tried to just stay with it. I got everything clicking that week.

Q. Have you played two golf courses that are more different in back-to-back weeks than last week and this week?

TREY MULLINAX: No. You're taking gouging divots out in Kentucky. You can barely -- you get the ball in the air here, it's great. So it was totally different golf courses.

But this is such fun. Getting to hit shots I've never hit before. My caddie Joels has been very prepared for the shots that we're going to have to hit and the bump and runs you have to hit around here. I feel very prepared, and I feel like my game's good.

Q. Did you change any equipment?

TREY MULLINAX: No, no equipment. I had to get my stuff bent back because all my clubs were out of my bag when I got here. A lot of clubs were bent, and so we had to adjust and stuff like that.

Q. What do you mean?

TREY MULLINAX: I guess going through TSA, whatever, they took the irons out and put them not back in my golf bag, it was just laying in the travel case. A couple of irons were bent and stuff like that.

Q. Was your backup set okay?

TREY MULLINAX: I actually found out last night that my putter was 2 degrees off. I knew it looked funny. I was like --

(Laughter).

I was having to tell my caddie, man, I'm having to forward press this a lot. I was like, man, I don't know what's going on. The ball wasn't rolling like it was in Kentucky. Surely I didn't lose it in two days.

I found out today that it was 2 degrees off. I played a lot better today.

Q. Have you had a chance to kind of register what you did in Kentucky in terms of your first win?

TREY MULLINAX: I haven't slowed down. I really haven't had any time. I'm really looking forward to next week getting home to my family and hanging out with my kids and celebrating the win, seeing some friends and stuff like that.

Q. Where do you live?

TREY MULLINAX: Birmingham, Alabama.

Q. Today?

TREY MULLINAX: Today was great.

Q. I know.

TREY MULLINAX: Shooting 66 out here is never bad. I was just trying to keep up with Kis the whole time. I mean, he was putting phenomenal. I started making some putts. It became kind of like who can make the most birdies? He made the most birdies. I sniffed him on the last hole. Might have caught a skin there with him.

Q. You didn't have much wind in there until probably coming in?

TREY MULLINAX: Wasn't too windy. It blew 10 at the most. We were fortunate on that. I don't know if it's going to blow this afternoon or not.

Like I said, we had a lot of fun. We were making some putts, and playing with Kis is always a pleasure.

Q. Was there ever a welcome to The Old Course moment for you from Tuesday on? Whether it was a shot or something where Joel told you to hit it and it made no sense or something like that?

TREY MULLINAX: I think today that back left pin on 17, it was like, okay, I've never had to aim 20 yards left of the green, hope it stays out of the water, and run it up.

It was like, okay, just trust it. Just hit it over there and hope for the best. That was kind of a cool shot that I've -- I've never played 20 yards away from a green.

But walking on my 18th hole yesterday was a really cool moment. It was getting dark. The sun was getting low. Just to have that view walking across the bridge, just all the memories you've seen here. That was really cool for me. Just sunsets, perfect. My dad was out here. It was really cool.

Q. Did your dad fly to JFK with you?

TREY MULLINAX: He flew the whole thing with me.

Q. What brought you here in '14?

TREY MULLINAX: It wasn't here. I played the Palmer Cup at Walton Heath in London, just outside London.

Q. How gettable is it today?

TREY MULLINAX: If you hit it well. They've got some good pins. We hit a lot of really good shots. We made putts, but we hit a lot of really good shots.

If you have your irons dialed in, you can make some birdies out there. I think the wind is going to pick up a little bit for those guys. We drove it well. We were never in bad positions.

17 was the only time we ever really -- Kis got unfortunate on 12. 17 was the only really grind we had out there today. So we hit it really well.

Q. How has your schedule changed since winning Kentucky? What had you planned going forward? Were you even going to Barracuda?

TREY MULLINAX: Yeah, I was going to go play them all, Barracuda through the rest of them. Now, I mean obviously a win changes things, I'm not going to play next week, but I'm probably going to play there until they kick me out.

Q. What did that do to your FedEx Cup rankings?

TREY MULLINAX: I don't know. I moved up quite a good bit. I think I'm 70 now or something like that. Just got to keep trying to move up.