You hear about drug suspensions at times in football, baseball and sometimes tennis. You never hear about a drug suspension in the sport of golf. That is what makes Thursday’s announcement that Trey Mullinax of Birmingham, Alabama, had been suspended six months by the PGA Tour extremely surprising.
However, the PGA Tour needs to be praised for following the proper guidelines, and finding out that Mullinax was taking a substance not approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The suspension means that Mullinax is ineligible to participate on a PGA Tour event for the remainder of the 2026 season. He can be reinstated again on January 16, 2027.
In suspending Mullinax, golf strengthens its relationship with the International Olympic Committee, which has a stringent drug policy. One must ask if the golf world was too lenient. Should Mullinax have been suspended for only six months or given a harsher sentence? One must realize, due to the fact Mullinax is ranked 544th in the world, it is fair to assume he will not be representing the United States at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, as the United States can only send four golfers to represent their nation in the Olympic golf tournament. Right now, the Americans have seven golfers ranked in the top 10.
Mullinax has one PGA Tour victory. It came at the 2022 Barbasol Championship in Kentucky. The victory took place a week before the British Open four years ago. Mullinax shot a winning score of -25 and beat Kevin Streelman of Winfield, Illinois by a stroke. In 2026, Mullinax only played one PGA Tour event. He missed the cut at the Houston Open.
