- All right, Trevor. - Cool.
- [Interviewer] First off, can you just introduce yourself,
tell me your name and how long you've been playing golf.
- Trevor Arnone from Lewiston, Idaho.
Been playing golf for about 30 years.
- [Interviewer] Right on. That's quite a while.
What got you into-
- Actually, my grandfather got me into golf.
None of my really family.
They're they're starting to golf
and they never got me into it
but my mom's dad got me into it.
So yeah, it's pretty awesome.
- [Interviewer] Would you go out there with him?
- Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
We'd play together and we play a lot
at his old club and everything.
Now he lives closer to us right now.
So I used to play with him quite a bit
when I was in town where he was at.
- [Interviewer] Did he stop playing with you
'cause you were beating him every time?
- Pretty much, yeah. (laughs)
He's 86 years old and he still goes out and swings it
and he doesn't hit the ball as far as he used to.
He understands that, but he just really still enjoys it
and plays with his grandkids
and I think that's super important for him.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, that's super impressive.
And speaking to the grandkids, I mean,
there's probably a bunch of kids watching you right now.
- Yeah. - At the Inaugural Open.
What do you say to a kid who's up and coming
and wants to play in the Adaptive Open one day?
- I say, go for it.
You know, don't let anything hold you back.
Don't let anybody tell you can't do something
'cause you know in this world
you can do anything you put your mind to.
I know it sounds cliche, but I do think that it is important
for kids to have that confidence to say,
"Hey, you know what?
I can do that. Hey, I can hit that."
Or, "I can be there. I know I can do it."
And if they have that mindset, nothing will hold them back.
- [Interviewer] Absolutely.
And I think it definitely helps
to see people on TV who are doing it
and they're like, "Hey, I see someone representing me."
So what does this mean to you
and what would it have meant to you when you were younger
to see an event like this?
- Oh, freaking cool.
Because you know, not all of us
there's a lot of us that are good at golf.
There's a lot of us that are, you know,
fairly good from the back tees.
And I think that what this means to the adaptive community
is it allows them to showcase their skills.
'Cause there are a lot of good players out here.
I'm just like flabbergasted
at how many good players there are.
I live in a small town, so I'm very sheltered
on the competition and the competitive levels.
I didn't even know there was like disabled opens.
I didn't know there was adaptive opens,
other than the USGA Inaugural.
So I didn't know anything about it
until I met a lot of the guys the gals
and they told me this is what they're doing.
I'm like, "Whoa, I didn't even know that was such a thing."
And the funniest thing is, I mean,
I don't have time to do it 'cause gotta work, right?
But for some of these folks, this is their job
and I think that's awesome.
I mean, why not take advantage of what you're good at
and what you're passionate about?
- [Interviewer] Absolutely.
And speaking of your other work, what's your day job?
- So I'm a financial advisor for Edward Jones Investments.
So, this year's been pretty interesting so far.
But it's been good to get away for a while,
to not have to worry about it
and not have to think too much about it
but it'll be nice to get home
and kind of get back in the swing of things
and get back to helping people, which I love to do.
- [Interviewer] Well, you know, no pun intended
with the getting back in the swing of things.
- Yeah. No pun intended. (laughs)
- [Interviewer] This was a nice break for you
but showing up, seeing the Pinehurst signs
and kind of getting a feel for the emotion of the event,
how did you feel the first day coming in?
- Oh, I remember driving in, I saw the American flags.
I saw just, I was just like,
I'm a proud American and I'm just sitting there like,
"This is freaking cool."
American flags all the way down the driveway,
all the way down.
I mean, I was like, "Whoa, this is kind of a big deal.
This is kind of important."
And I'm just like, and "I'm a part of it."
And it was, it just kind of made me really kind of step back
and be like, "Wow, this is actually bigger
than it really is."
Or that I really thought it would be.
- [Interviewer] Absolutely.
That's that's been my experience this this whole week
to be honest with you.
I've been blown away by like how good the golfers are.
How did you feel about your own performance-
- I could have played better,
but I mean I'm from on the west side of the state
so we don't have grainy greens.
We don't have, you know, slopes and all this.
I know my caddy saved my rear.
I probably would've shot 120 just because the greens,
I didn't, I had no idea.
I had no idea hard to hit.
It had no idea how to, which way was gonna go.
But you know, my caddy Tony just saved my rear
on how these greens work, I'm just not used to it.
I'm just not used to the type of grass.
I mean, and 'cause I look at a putt at home
and you don't have to worry about grain
you just hit it and it breaks left,
breaks right, downhill, uphill.
I mean it's totally different ball game
but could have played better.
But for my first go around, I think, you know
I was happy with it in a sense.
- [Interviewer] Absolutely.
I mean, there's some of the takeaway I feel like
just being part of the Inaugural Open, like that is huge.
You're forever enshrined in the whole thing.
- Totally. Totally, inaugural.
It's pretty bad. Pretty cool.
- [Interviewer] Absolutely.
Now can you tell me a little more about Tony?
How did you guys meet?
How'd you- - Literally just random.
I got paired with him 'cause I asked for a caddy
you know, local caddy.
I had tried to have some,
I had like six or seven friends and they couldn't do it
which I'm glad, no offense to them
but Tony was super helpful.
I've known him for, you know
72 hours or 96 or hours, whatever.
And I just met him on Sunday and him and I hit it off well.
We have the same humor, same mindset and you know
I just listened to him as best as possible.
And said, "Hey dude, what do I need to do?"
And I said, "Where do I go?"
So I was super fortunate to have him
'cause he caddies out here, you know, anyways.
So awesome relationship.
I hope him and I get to see each other again and play.
I'd love to play with him next year, if at all possible.
- [Interviewer] Absolutely.
And I heard it's coming back to Pinehurst.
- That's what I heard, yeah.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
So you'll have some experience on the course.
- Yeah. We'll see if that helps or not. (laughing)
- [Interviewer] Well, you were just thinking
about joking around with him having the same humor.
It seems like you like to keep it a little loose.
How do you prep and how do you approach the ball and hit?
What's your routine?
- You know, I just take a couple practice swings,
take a deep breath.
I just go up like, "I know I'm a decent player.
I know I can make good contact.
I just know how to hit the ball."
I just try to keep it light and breezy and keep it quicker.
'Cause I mean the more I look over a shot,
the more I think, right?
The more I think, the more I think.
So the longer I have to think the more I think,
and I just try to be you know, find my line and go for it.
That's why, I mean, I'm not like super fast
but I just like to find my line and go, and just hit it,
because I don't want to think too much about it.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
That seemed to work pretty well for you.
You were hitting pretty well today.
- Yeah, I hit the ball pretty well today
but the putting green was a little bit rough
but you know, it happens.
- [Interviewer] Absolutely.
Well, it's still a million times better than I would-
(Trevor laughs)
- Touche.
- I've been like, "Man, guys." - Touche.
- [Interviewer] I am a terrible golfer after this week.
But, hey Trevor, thank you so much for your time.
- No problem, man.
- [Interviewer] Thanks for letting me
follow you guys around today.
- Totally! - It was amazing.
And you were fantastic.
- Thank you very much, appreciate it.
Thanks a lot, brother.