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Barstool’s Dave Portnoy Wants to Host a Creator Golf Tournament for $1 Million Prize

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2 years ago

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The PGA Tour and LIV Golf may not be the only places to offer big money for winning a golf tournament.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is talking about hosting a golf tournament for content creators with a $1 million prize for the winner.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Portnoy said on episode 27 of “The Unnamed Show,”:

“I’d rather watch not great golf than like scratch boring golfers. Let’s get handicaps; let’s put a million-dollar prize together and have a real tournament.”

Portnoy was likely referring to The Creator Classic, which will be taking place at East Lake Golf Club next Wednesday, prior to the Tour Championship teeing off in Atlanta.

That event will see 16 so-called YouTube golfers – including Paige Spiranac (4 million Instagram followers), Good Good’s Garrett Clark and Sean Walsh (1.64 million YouTube subscribers), and Fat Perez (832,000 YouTube subscribers) – tee off in a nine-hole competition that will be shown live on ESPN+, Peacock, and the PGA Tour’s social channels.

It marks a shift in the PGA Tour’s mentality to embrace influencers in the world of golf. Many of these creators develop huge followings, even as the pro circuits struggle with TV viewership.

For instance, a playoff between Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm only drew 165,000 viewers to the CW on Sunday, and while the PGA Tour’s FedEx St. Jude Championship drew 2.4 million on the same day, it was down around 25% from last year – a number that has been seen virtually across the board as a drop from year to year.

In the meantime, LIV golfer Bryson DeChambeau has 1.39 million followers on YouTube, so there seems to be some disconnect between these personalities on social media and getting people to watch them compete on the weekend.

Perhaps events like The Creator Classic and whatever Portnoy may cook up will bring a new audience to watching the actual sport play out.

Cover Image via Men’s Journal

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Chris has worked in sports journalism for nearly 20 years and also loves the game of golf, even though it often doesn't love him back. Year-round golf is a perk of living in Florida, where Chris moved from his native New York shortly after graduating from college. Chris has played some famous courses in the state, including Bay Hill in Orlando and Innisbrook in the Tampa Bay area, and next on his to-do list is the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to take a crack at the famous island hole.

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