The talk of the non-professional golf world over the past week has been Luke Kwon, a former PGA Tour China winner-turned-YouTube golf star who overslept his tee time at Barstool Sports’ $1-million-dollar Internet Invitational last week. It was a major faux-pas in the context of the lucrative influencer competition, and it incensed teammate Ryan Whitney—a former NHL defenseman and co-host of Barstool Sports’ Spittin’ Chiclets and The Unnamed Show podcasts—who had a very hockey response to the very golf problem.
3.9 million souls watched Whitney’s confrontation with Kwon, and while Kwon took his fair share of criticism, prompting an 18-minute apology video, golf fans were just as upset with Whitney, whose public humiliation of the South Korean at the Big Cedar Lodge buffet table crossed golf’s delicate decorum line. On Thursday, a week after the episode aired, Whitney addressed those complaints head on and he didn’t mince words.
"The minute that speech ended I knew, that doesn't make me look great. Immediately it's about the team, we all fucked up, we gotta come together, and I was the guy on the other side ripping [Kwon] to shreds." – @ryanwhitney6 https://t.co/SbVdhB4q7u pic.twitter.com/X6yaaIaUku
— The Unnamed Show (@barstoolunnamed) November 6, 2025
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Whitney admitted he knew he was going to look bad as soon former NFL coach Jon Gruden began the greatest (and first?) halftime speech in YouTube golf history but stopped well short of apologizing. In fact, he doubled down, saying “the YouTube golf fanbase has gotta be the biggest bunch of p*ssies on the Internet.”
Sheesh. Tell us how you really feel, Ryan.
Obviously, some people are going to be offended by that and others are going to find it hilarious. This is, in essence, the Barstool Sports’ content strategy. We aren’t here to police Whitney or your personal feelings about him. That’s not our beat. What we can say, is that despite the millions of impressions the ‘Desperate Housewives Clubhouse Guys’ drama has generated, the Internet Invitational will be a failure if that’s all it’s remembered for.
The event was supposed to be a feel-good gathering of creators who have reshaped the way we watch and think about golf over the past several years. It was supposed to be the medium’s mainstream moment, a chance to show all the agnostics and hold-outs what they’ve been missing while wasting their Saturdays watching the Sanderson Farms Championship. Instead, we’ve been served the same petty in-fighting we see in pro golf on a weekly basis. There’s still a long way to go for the Internet Invitational, and this could all be a distant memory by the time it wraps up, but maybe, just maybe (hot take here) everyone should shut up and play some golf.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
