US golf’s PGA Tour has launched a 9-hole event featuring competitors including YouTube icons and other celebrities, to take place during the same week as the PGA Tour Championship.
This tournament, to be called the Creator Classic, will be held at East Lake in Georgia, US, on August 28, and will feature 16 players, including personalities such as Tyler Toney from Dude Perfect, the Bryan Bros, and Fat Perez from Bob Does Sports.
The event will be covered on the PGA Tour’s YouTube channel and through other streaming platforms such as Peacock (run by Comcast) and ESPN+ (owned by Disney).
Laura Neal, executive vice president of brand communications at the PGA Tour, said: "With the YouTube golf creators, that’s a burgeoning area for our sport and we want to make sure we’re bringing their audience to us and us to them.
“The important part, at the end of the day, is that we listen to what our fans say.”
The event is being produced in partnership with the PGA Tour, by Pro Shop Studios, the production firm behind the Full Swing behind-the-scenes docuseries about the PGA Tour on Netflix.
Blackstone, an outdoor cooking equipment provider, is serving as Creator Classic’s primary sponsor.
This marks the latest in the PGA Tour’s slow but steady move into innovative content creation, with YouTube golf series and streamed tournaments proving increasingly popular on the video-sharing platform.
Indeed, golf played by celebrities and social media content creators is now attracting substantial viewing figures on digital platforms, in some cases above and beyond the views for lower-tier tournaments on the PGA Tour.
Late last year, Formula 1 (F1) motorsport drivers and golfers who featured in Full Swing competed with and against each other through the Netflix Cup tournament, which aired live on the entertainment platform.
The drivers and golfers paired up to compete in a match-play tournament at Wynn Golf Club at Wynn Las Vegas ahead of last year’s inaugural F1 grand prix in the US city.
That concept resembled the annual ‘The Match’ exhibition golf event staged by media and entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery Sports that features professional golfers and athletes from other sports.
