YouTube star Grant Horvat was invited to play on the PGA Tour for the very first time in July, but he rejected the sponsor invite.
Grant Horvat is one of YouTube golf’s best players, having shared the course with some of the game’s greats, including Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, and Jon Rahm.
The potential for him to test his talents on the tour has been highly anticipated for a while now. He said he is a +3 handicap, but Horvat never made it to the PGA Tour.
He was given the opportunity to play on the tour this summer, receiving an invitation to the Barracuda Championship. But to fans’ disappointment, Horvat rejected the PGA Tour’s invitation, saying in a statement that the tour wouldn’t allow him to film his perspective of the event.
Horvat has since offered an alternative explanation that he says he didn’t communicate well at the time.
The real reason Grant Horvat rejected sponsor invite from the PGA Tour
Horvat’s decision to reject the PGA Tour’s invite was a source of controversy in the golf world. Some speculated whether Horvat was unwilling to expose himself to that level of competition.
Speaking on the Good Good Podcast, he revealed that, along with not being able to film the event, he doesn’t have a burning desire to play on the tour.
Horvat explained: “We definitely would have done it if they were like ‘yeah, go film it’. I would have been playing a PGA Tour event. I think what wasn’t communicated, and it’s hard to communicate it, is that it was never my dream to be a pro golfer.
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“So that’s where it was really tricky to communicate that. I just made my statement, and it was very much ‘they won’t allow us to film, so it’s not going to work moving forward’.
“But it wasn’t something that was like I just want to do it for the experience. Because I don’t have a desire, it’s not my dream to play in a PGA Tour event. It’s just not.
“I do enjoy competing. I love playing in videos for money and stuff like that. I think it’s super fun. But it’s the environment.”
It’s a shame not to see Horvat competing on that stage, as there’s genuine interest as to how he’d get on.
We’ve already seen him go head-to-head with the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood on his channel, and seeing him take on the pros over four days would draw tons of eyes to the tournament.
Grant Horvat says what he’d score at a PGA Tour event
Horvat went on to speculate on how he would have performed if he’d accepted the PGA Tour’s invite.
The YouTube star tempered his expectations, saying, “I know I am going to miss the cut. The nerves and hype leading up to it. I am going to be happy to shoot two mid-70 rounds.
“If I shoot a 75 and a 72 or something like that, in that range. While that nervous and with that much riding on it, I would be really happy.
“I don’t play competitive golf, and I know controlling the adrenaline and doing all that, it’s a whole other world. It’s not the same. It’s just not the same as going out and filming a normal video.”
Kai Trump shot an 83 in her first professional performance, so a 75 from Horvat would be a more than respectable display. Hopefully, we can see it at some point in the future.
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