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While the ongoing divide between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf remained the biggest story around the business of golf in 2025, a far less divisive trend in the sport continued to gain steam: the rise of YouTube golf.
For years, golf-focused social media influencers have amassed huge followings online as young and creative personalities capitalize on newfound interest in the game that began to pick up steam during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year marked a new era for those influencers competing in events organized by professional tours and new entities with significant financial payouts.
Getting Creative
The PGA Tour expanded its Creator Classic property from a one-off event in 2024 to a three-event series this year. At the Players Championship in March, Truist Championship in May, and Tour Championship in August, the PGA Tour hosted small fields (between nine and 12 players) of golf influencers on the eve of the respective tournaments.
Using varying formats, those content creators played on the same course PGA Tour players would play on the following day. These events were broadcast live on YouTube, ESPN+, and sometimes Golf Channel. The individual creators were allowed to film and show more content from their rounds after the fact.
The third and final Creator Classic of the year at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta paid out $100,000 to its winner, Brad Dalke.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour this year took input about its entire product from its Creator Council, which was formed in December 2024 and is made up of 10 popular content creators and brands.
In October, the PGA Tour announced popular content creator group Good Good Golf had signed on to head up a new PGA Tour event in Austin, the Good Good Championship, which will make its debut in November 2026.
LIV Joins the Party
On the back of the PGA Tour’s success hosting influencer-led events, LIV Golf entered the space this year with a slightly different approach.
The Duels, a five-event series featuring golf content creators competing alongside LIV players, launched in April around the league’s Miami tournament. The first-place finisher at each event was awarded $250,000. Rather than broadcasting the competition live, though, LIV opted to film the matches and release them at a later date, which is how most YouTube creators operate.
Many golf influencers that previously competed in Creator Classics ended up also playing in The Duels. Wesley Bryan, a former winner on the PGA Tour, competed in the inaugural Miami event and was subsequently suspended from the PGA Tour (Bryan had not been playing regularly on tour and had been focusing more on content creation).
Bryson DeChambeau, who has 2.54 million subscribers on YouTube, played in the Dallas edition of The Duels, and broadcast the match on his page, which garnered 4.6 million views and is the most-watched edition of The Duels.
Spreading the Wealth
The influencer event with the biggest purse of the year was not organized by the PGA Tour or LIV Golf, though.
The Internet Invitational, created by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, brought together 48 content creators competing for their share of $1 million, which was ultimately split between three winners.
The debut episode has garnered 6.8 million views (and counting) on YouTube, and all six episodes have combined to average roughly 4.2 million views.
Multiple social media-centric golf leagues launched this year, too, including The Peoples League and the Grass League, which competes on par-3 courses.
And many professional golfers continued to embrace YouTube golf. Grant Horvat, who has 1.56 million YouTube subscribers, created videos with stars like Scottie Scheffler, Nelly Korda, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, and others.
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf have not yet announced plans for more creator events in 2026, but they are likely to return, if not expand further.
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