Golf and drinking have long been intertwined to the point that there are people who believe that a golf course has 18 holes because a standard bottle of Scotch contains about 18 shots. Of course, that’s just an urban legend, but boozing on the course is still the norm for many. And golf fans have certainly seen more of that than usual these past few weeks during the Internet Invitational.
The Super Bowl of YouTube Golf, the brainchild of Barstool Sports and Bob Does Sports, will reach its dramatic conclusion on Thursday, but we’ve already seen some all-time inebriated performances. That includes Salim “The Dream” Sirur, who seemed intent on actually bringing that old urban legend to life and taking enough shots of various swing oil to knock out a baby elephant, all while attempting to win $1.3 million.
It seems like a dumb strategy with so much on the line, but there actually is some science that shows alcohol can, in some cases, help your game. Essentially, Salim seems to have found a sweet spot in which the booze is canceling out some of the nerves—although he seems close to crossing a line your body can’t come back from during a round. Staggeringly close. Emphasis on stagger.
While we aren’t encouraging drinking while golfing, Golf Digest has done numerous studies on this topic through the years—including one in which I participated, hitting a series of shots sober, then after two, four, and six drinks. Fortunately for me, that was NOT recorded on camera for the world to see like the Internet Invitational, but three other editors were brave enough to do that once and the results were, well, interesting.
Here’s a collection of our work on the topic, from that video to a podcast I did that included thoughts from Dr. Ara Suppiah. And we’re also monitoring an Internet Invitational beef, a Tiger Woods video that had Golf Twitter talking and LeBron James getting heckled for a (net) golf crime.
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One week ago, Wesley Bryan tweeted out a prompt that he likely knew would get the people going—asking whether the Internet Invitational would be better if you replaced the eight highest-handicapped golfers in the event with the eight best golfers in the world. Just how vicious the people would get was probably not something he expected, though.
Naturally, some people took issue with the prompt, including some of those in the screenshot he posted. The Pardon My Take boys discussed it on their podcast, as did the Foreplay crew a week later. Bryan went back at the PMT crew, defending his tweet and calling them "idiots.”
We discussed the entire saga on this week's episode of The Loop podcast, in addition to the last two episodes of the Internet Invitational, which continues to deliver. Plus, we chatted with two-time PGA Tour winner Austin Smotherman, a former SMU teammate of Bryson DeChambeau's who has a great Bryson story from the 2019 Masters.
Please have a listen, and like and subscribe to The Loop wherever you get your podcasts:
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On Tuesday, during Tiger Woods’ latest public appearance, he was asked how he was feeling and when we can expect to see him back on the course. The 15-time major winner said he was feeling better “no doubt about that” and quipped that he would be at the Hero “either way.”
Concrete plans will apparently have to wait, but Tiger fans still had plenty to celebrate as they turned out in spades to applaud Woods’ healthy, youthful appearance. Woods appears noticeably leaner in the clip, prompting well-wishers to hope that he’s put his health and substance issues behind him for good. At this stage, that means a great deal more for Woods’ life and livelihood than it does for his golf career, so hopefully this video is what it looks like.
A return to form for the greatest to ever do it.
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The desperation of Q school can be boiled down to this 13-second video.
You probably have not heard of Rocco Repetto Taylor, but the 23-year-old Spaniard, No. 538 in the World Ranking, just finished Round 5 of the six-round DP World Tour Qualifying School in Spain. He’s tied for third entering the final 18 holes, one shot off the lead and four shots clear of a tie for 15th place, the bubble line where all players earn DP World Tour playing rights for 2027.
Reptto Taylor played in 27 DP World Tour events this season but made just 12 cuts and didn’t have any top-20 finishes. He had to advance through the second stage to get to the finals in his home country, and he was sitting pretty until he reached this sixth hole. This aggressive shot is understandable given the circumstances.
He would make a double bogey but impressively didn’t let the bad hole get to him. He birdied the next and finished the round with a 67, to accompany the 68-66-66-64 in his previous rounds. The real pressure hits on Wednesday, and there’s no cheering in the press box, but there’s a bit part of us that’s rooting for Rocco.
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