Outside of Bryson DeChambeau’s meteoric rise in YouTube golf, we haven’t seen many notable pros get involved on the platform beyond guest appearances.
Now it looks like a legendary golfer is getting in the mix.
Phil Mickelson—six-time major champion and a lightning rod for controversy surrounding LIV Golf—announced a challenge series with Grant Horvat, the rising YouTube golf star. The two are going to play as a team against a variety of competition starting this January. The announcement came in the form of a Step Brothers-inspired video released on Instagram last week after Horvat had been teasing “the biggest announcement of his career” leading up to that.
Mickelson and Horvat have played a couple of matches in 2024. The first match came online in July as Horvat shot 3-under on the back nine at Rancho Santa Fe Country Club to beat Mickelson who had started with a five-stroke deficit at his home club. As punishment for the loss, Mickelson agreed to wear joggers each round at the Open Championship.
Part One of the match, which aired on Horvat’s channel, saw 2.4 million views and more than 21,000 comments. Part Two of the match, which was the official launch of Mickelson’s own YouTube channel, had 1.3 million views and more than 18,000 comments.
The two linked up again, at the same course, for a rematch that aired last week. Horvat, starting with a five-stroke advantage, won that match by one stroke despite making a closing double-bogey. Part One has more than 1.1 million views and Part Two has more than 800,000 views as of this writing.
What does this mean for Mickelson and YouTube golf?
Reading the tea leaves, it seems Mickelson is interested in YouTube golf for a few reasons.
One is that it can be a reputation boost. Mickelson kind of lit himself on fire prior to the formation of LIV and the golf world has slowly forgotten about him as a competitor over the past couple of years. The YouTube golf audience is more interested in entertainment than the structural integrity of the PGA Tour so it’s a way for Mickelson to connect with fans in a pressure-free environment.
You’ll also remember Mickelson’s comments about how the Tour is sitting on “multiple billions of dollars” in NFTs. That might have been a little dramatic but it’s clear that LIV’s lack of stringent rules around media rights—and some additional free time from a lighter tournament schedule—have opened the door for pros to capitalize as content creators instead of having random cameos.
If DeChambeau and Mickelson were still on the Tour, it’s doubtful they would be able to do this.
Lastly, there seems to be some synergy between Mickelson’s coffee/supplement company For Wellness and other YouTube channels. For Wellness has been sponsoring Bryan Bros. and Horvat videos recently, so there looks to be some arrangement.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a Horvat/Mickelson versus Bryan Bros. match early in 2025.
Mickelson has yet to make a big investment in YouTube golf—he only has three videos total on his channel—but I think we’ll see a lot more of him next year.
I’m going to have more on this in the coming weeks but I think we are witnessing a sea change with how pro golfers are going to be way more in charge of their own product rather than relying on competition-based tours. My prediction is that there will be more prominent golfers starting their own channels in the future.
The model is changing. I’m not saying competitive pro golf as a TV product will be abandoned but there just isn’t a great reason to watch it on a consistent basis. More people are consuming golf on YouTube—it’s easier and more entertaining.
Love or hate Mickelson, his move to YouTube golf only verifies that further.
Would you watch his channel? Let me know below in the comments.
bankem
2 years ago
To bad. Was hoping his circus act would just go away.