“Conversations with Champions presented by Sentry” is a weekly series from Golfweek in collaboration with The Caddie Network, where we take you behind the scenes for a chat with the winning caddie from the most recent PGA Tour event. This week: Julien Trudeau, caddie for Trey Mullinax, at the 2022 Barbasol Championship.
He had missed three out of four cuts on the PGA Tour, with the other finish being a solo 69th.
But last week at the Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky, it all came together for Trey Mullinax, who picked an ideal time to snap that skid and earn his first PGA Tour win at the 2022 Barbasol Championship.
He also earned his first trip the Open Championship, which just so happens to be the 150th playing of the event at the most famous golf course in the world, St. Andrews, where the conditions are dry and the course will run.
“The strategy is just massive because there’s so many options off the tee. We’re actually going to hit it into the fescue on purpose on a few holes,” said Trudeau, who was standing on the practice putting green at the Old Course when he caught up John Rathouz from The Caddie Network.
Mullinax has appeared in two majors prior to punching his ticket to Scotland. He missed the cut in the 2018 U.S. Open. He finished tied for ninth in the 2017 U.S. Open.
This week, the long-hitter will have plenty of options from all parts of the golf course.
“We watched Max Homa hit a putter from like 100 yards and he putted it up to like a foot and I was like, ‘Was that the play?'” Trudeau said. “It was so cool watching this thing go up and down, up and down over these humps. So it’s going to be really fun to watch on TV, I think, because these balls are just moving.
If they’re not aiming for fescue, Mullinax and Trudeau are prepared for rollout.
“We hit a drive. … the run out on No. 14 is 420 and he hit it about even with the end of the fairway,” Trudeau said of a practice-round tee ball from Mullinax. “It was a little bit down on the right but, this thing probably went 410 yards.”
