With Scottie Scheffler doing his best to quash any potential drama at The Tour Championship, many would have found that the most exciting day last week at East Lake came on Wednesday when a number of influencers took part in the Creator Classic.
The Creator Classic saw the likes of the Bryan Bros, Luke Kwon, Paige Spiranac, Brad Dalke and Roger Steele compete over the back nine at East Lake. There were 16 competitors across four groups, all looking to be in the top four positions after eight holes before the 18th was used for a play-off to determine the winner.
It was Kwon who emerged victorious, with Steele, Wesley Bryan and Sean Walsh all missing out in the play-off. Of course, one of the big discussion points surrounding the event was those who were not involved.
Peter Finch was flying the flag for the United Kingdom as the only player from that side of the pond, with Rick Shiels confirming ahead of the event that he had not actually been invited.
Rick Shiels issues verdict on the Creator Classic
While anyone who has watched Shiels’ YouTube channel knows that his game can be temperamental, it will have been a surprise to some that he was not asked along given the impact that he has had on the space over the last decade.
Speaking on The Rick Shiels Golf Show, Shiels has now shared what he made of the event – which brought in 1.7 million viewers – itself.
“I thought it was a fantastic event; really, really well put on, live-streaming it, on course commentary, in studio commentary,” he said.
“It wasn’t perfect, I still think there’s room for improvement, I think you could have YouTubers actually doing the commentary, I think that would’ve been really good to add. But all in all, I thought it was a fantastic event.”
A significant moment for the space
It definitely appears that the PGA Tour is really starting to embrace the impact that YouTube golf can have on increasing popularity, with The Q at Myrtle Beach earlier this year opening the door for influencers to potentially get a spot in a PGA Tour event. On that occasion, George Bryan only missed out in a play-off.
So it will be interesting to see what the future holds for the space, as there is clearly a lot of interest and the potential for the influencers to bring a different audience to the PGA Tour product.
As Shiels suggests, it did not appear to be a perfect event, but that was always going to be the case given that this style of crossover is so new.
What now feels safe to say with certainty is that the Creator Classic is not going to be the final event of its kind in the years to come.
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