As part of the PGA Tour’s first meaningful investment in YouTube golf, the Creator Classic took place on Wednesday evening at renovated East Lake Golf Club.
The event, which was streamed on YouTube and ESPN+, featured 16 YouTube golf creators playing eight holes of stroke play on East Lake’s back nine. The top four finishers earned their way into a one-hole playoff on the course’s par-5 18th hole. Any ties would have resulted in a chipping contest to determine the winner—that wasn’t necessary, however, as former University of Oklahoma golfer Luke Kwon won with a birdie while the other three competitors settled for par.
My overall impression of the event was overwhelmingly positive. I would be stunned if the Tour doesn’t revive this concept for next year’s Tour Championship. Better yet, I think there could be more YouTube golf involved ahead of marquee events like the Players Championship.
It wasn’t all perfect—the streaming product needs a lot of work—but the Creator Classic has solid bones.
Here are five takeaways from the inaugural edition of the event.
1. There is a legitimate audience for this type of golf
When Kwon was putting for the victory, more than 118,000 viewers were watching live on YouTube.
That is just the live number, though. As I’m writing this, the on-demand version of the stream has been viewed by more than one million people.
We also have to factor in the ESPN+ viewership, which should be a sizable chunk. There likely won’t be released data on that side, but estimates have it exceeding the live YouTube audience.
This undoubtedly crushes any LIV audience we’ve had to this point—even when it’s the final round and two of the game’s best players are going head-to-head.
It’s not on the level of a Tour audience (by traditional metrics), but the audience numbers are impressive.
The social media conversation was enthusiastic as well. It felt like people cared—or at least they were being entertained. YouTube golf definitely has a substantial following.
2. YouTube golfers are better than expected
I came into this event a little leery of the YouTubers getting embarrassed by a championship golf course and the bright lights of competition.
A lot of people assumed that even-par would be the low score after eight holes. I personally thought 1 or 2 over-par could make it into the playoff. East Lake’s new greens are firm and the rough is very penal.
I was proven wrong in a pretty resounding way. All four players that reached the playoff shot under-par for the eight holes, and another three players finished at even-par just one shot out of the playoff. Roger Steele opened the day with a 195 mph ball speed tee shot that carried 331 yards. The three women in the field (Paige Spiranac, Gabby Golfgirl and Aimee Cho) contended for much of the afternoon.
If that wasn’t enough, Mac Boucher turned a right-handed driver upside down and swung lefty—on the first tee—and hit it better than most of us do playing the proper direction.
There was some phenomenal golf being played. Granted, the hole locations were generous and the course wasn’t playing overly difficult. I’m still very impressed.
Here was the final leaderboard:
- Luke Kwon -1 (winner after playoff)
- Wesley Bryan -2
- Roger Steele -2
- Sean Walsh -1
- Brad Dalke E
- Micah Morris E
- Peter Finch E
- George Bryan IV +1
- Paige Spiranac +2
- Gabby Golfgirl +3
- Mason Nutt +4
- Aimee Cho +4
- Fat Perez +5
- Garrett Clark +6
- Mac Boucher +7
- Tyler Toney +10
3. The streaming product needs some TLC
One of the promises of this event was that it would take YouTube golf and offer Tour-level production.
We got that in some areas. There was Trackman, leaderboard bugs, additional stats, player interviews and professional commentary from the likes of instructor Mark Immelman. That was an upgrade upon what we saw during the Q at Myrtle Beach, a Tour qualifier involving YouTube golfers earlier this year.
While the streaming effort got the job done for this first version, it will have to improve dramatically to keep the momentum going into the future.
Commentators were constantly talking over each other; the stream constantly lost track of players even with just 16 balls in play; the Trackman malfunctioned multiple times; and there were more commercials than I was anticipating.
It was a strong idea to have Joel Dahmen involved as an on-course reporter, but I swear there was an hour-long section of time where we didn’t hear from him once.
Also, I know there are a lot of Barstool fans who ride hard for Jake Marsh, but I just can’t listen to him. He sounds like someone doing an impression of a play-by-play announcer.
All of this is totally understandable for the first attempt. This group has never worked with each other. I’m sure the next edition will be better.
Given that it’s YouTube golf as the main focus, I don’t think it has to be polished up to the standards of a Tour event. Having said that, more cohesion would help.
4. The format is a grand slam
Whoever came up with this format deserves a raise.
First of all, it’s great promotion for the Tour Championship and new-look East Lake. I guarantee there will be some YouTube golf fans turning into Tour golf this weekend because of this.
Secondly, the format guaranteed drama. Nobody could run away and win by several strokes because the scores all reset for the playoff. Also, having four players advance gave most of the field a hope of making it into the playoff.
I thought the timing worked out well. It didn’t feel rushed but it didn’t linger too long. It’s the right amount of golf to play for something like this. And I think adding too many players would make it impossible for the stream to capture it all—they were already lost even with just 16 players.
No notes. The format is perfect.
5. Future versions don’t always have to be live
While I was watching, I couldn’t help but think that an edited version of the tournament could be even more powerful than the live version.
Yes, a live event has its perks as the golf world rallies around it at the same time. I don’t think it’s necessary for every one of these, though.
Maybe you take an event like the Genesis Invitational and do the same concept there, only the video comes out a week later. It can be edited down into a much tighter window with quicker transitions while still making sure all of the appropriate shots are shown.
That is already the normal format for YouTube golf—so why not use some of the Tour’s resources to make a quick-hitting tournament video that has Trackman, commentators and everything else?
Those are my takeaways. What did you think of the Creator Classic?
Let me know below in the comments.
Also, if you are interested in following some of the top creators on YouTube, here is our list of the top 20 channels you should be following.
Top Photo Caption: Joel Dahmen interviews Fat Perez during the Creator Classic. (GETTY IMAGES/Keyur Khamar)
