HILTON GRAND VACATIONS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 19, 2023

Mark Mulder

Lake Nona Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Good playing, you're up there. You're the top of the leaderboard.

MARK MULDER: Yeah, I'm up there, but I started, I think, with four or five straight bogeys. I just found a way to bogey the first few holes. It's not the way I hit it the last few days, so I was ready to go, to be fair, and it just didn't start the way I wanted it to.

Each time I kind of tried to get it going, I then followed up each birdie with a bogey, and it was kind of a struggle all day.

I look at it as that's about as poorly as I can hit it, so I'm looking for something better the next few days.

Q. Do you feel like you're ready to step in and win one of these again?

MARK MULDER: Well, I don't know if I won it in '17 or '18 when it was at the other course. It's been a little while. Then I choked my brains out in Tahoe this summer.

It would be nice to kind of get a W. But like I said, it's not the way I wanted to start, but day 1 rather than day 4.

Q. Is there something about the mentality of pitchers? You see a lot of pitchers play well out of the ranks here.

MARK MULDER: I mean, it's very similar, whether it's kicking a field goal, shooting a free throw. Nothing can happen until you hit that golf ball. Nothing can happen until I throw the pitch.

I understand I have guys playing defense behind me, so I can give up a bullet to somebody and it's still an out, but golf doesn't work that way. But I think the mentality is still the same. I think that's why you see a lot of pitchers who enjoy golf and who are maybe some of the better golfers compared to the position players.

Josh Donaldson is hitting it 40 yards past me, but sometimes he doesn't know where it's going. I love him to death, but that's kind of how it goes. The pitcher, you're trying to plot your day out, your nine innings, your 18 holes, however you want to look at it. There's something to that.

I don't think it doesn't mean position players can't be good golfers. It's just we have a little more time on our hands during the season, as well, to get in some holes compared to the position guys.

Q. If you can talk about the tournament as a whole and just kind of how unique it is and what's enjoyable about this event.

MARK MULDER: I love playing with the girls. Whether it's today with Anna, we work out at the same gym in Scottsdale, so I've known her for quite a few years, whether it's past years playing with Nelly or Lexi or Brooke, I've played with kind of all of them over the years. As straight as they all hit it -- Anna, she didn't miss a fairway today. It's fun to watch. I get it. They're not hitting it 300 yards, but on a course like this, she whooped my butt today.

It's still hitting fairways, hitting greens and making putts.

I just really enjoy playing with them because I watch them dissect a course. I watch them lay up on the par-5s to their numbers, where I'm going for everything. Whether that's smart or not, I'm still doing it. But it's just a lot of fun. I enjoy playing with them, and I enjoy watching the way they go about it.