The Creator Classic, which took place yesterday in Atlanta in the run-up to today’s TOUR Championship start, marked the PGA Tour’s inaugural foray into the YouTube golf world. Sponsored by Blackstone—and streamed on platforms including the PGA Tour's YouTube channel, ESPN+, and Peacock—the first-of-its-kind event saw 16 of the platform’s most popular golf personalities face off in a nine-hole competition. Luke Kwon took home the trophy in a matchup that reflected both younger audiences’ burgeoning interest in YouTube golf content and the growing recognition of the value golf influencers bring to the game. 

The tournament lineup included content creators like Paige Spiranac—who has 4M Instagram followers and three partnerships (including Swag Golf and BYLT Basics)—and Tyler Toney of Dude Perfect (a Texas-based comedy group), whose YouTube channel boasts more than 60M subscribers. While Dude Perfect partners with brands including Walmart and Nerf (among 16 others), neither Toney nor its other four members have individual endorsement deals. 

A comparison of the players’ sponsorship portfolios highlights the diverse commercial landscape and complex marketing dynamics within the golf content universe. Roger Steele leads the list of competitors by number of partnerships with nine—including deals with United Airlines, Mastercard, and Vital Proteins—despite his relatively modest social following of 140K. Meanwhile, Garrett Clark, whose total following numbers are more than 2.4M, has just one endorsement deal (Callaway). This shows that while follower count is a key metric brands consider when investing in influencers, criteria like quality of engagement, content focus, and audience demographics play an equally crucial role in assessing influencer marketability.  

Creator Classic Player List + Number of Deals:

• Roger Steele 9
• Nick Stubbe (Fat Perez) 8
• Mac Boucher 7
• Micah Morris Golf 6
• Peter Finch 6
• Paige Spiranac 3
• Gabby DeGasperis (Gabby Golfgirl) 3
• Aimee Cho 2
• Garrett Clark 1
• Wesley Bryan 1
• Brad Dalke 1
• Tyler Toney 0
• Luke Kwon 0
• George Bryan 0
• Mason Nutt 0
• Sean Walsh 0