The 2025 Internet Invitational made quite a splash, amassing more than 23 million views across its digital release. So, it came as little surprise when a second season of the YouTube team golf tournament was announced. Since October 26, Barstool Sports and Bob Does Sports have treated fans to a new episode every three days. Now, the results are in!
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Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy has revealed that the six-episode tournament attracted 30 million viewers. However, the success came with an unwanted controversy. Salim ‘The Dream’ Sirur reportedly drank heavily throughout the final day, sparking backlash over his conduct. The incident has now forced Portnoy to put his foot down and express his disappointment.
“The night when I phoned home after the Invitational and, like, ‘Dave, how was the invitational?’ I’m like, ‘The first couple of days, f**king awesome,’” he explained. “Like better than year one. The last day, the finals ruined. Like, I was apoplectic how mad I was. Salim, obviously blackout drunk, ruined the last day. I saw his video, and he’s like, I’m really sorry. I got blackout. I’m working on myself. I ruined it.”
Portnoy, of course, is referring to Sirur’s apology, where he took to Instagram to acknowledge his behavior and explain his decision to stay away from alcohol.
“There’s a reason I challenged myself to 90 days sober after the Internet Invitational,” he wrote. “Watching these episodes back is a good reminder of why I started. 87/90.”
He also shared another message apologizing to his teammates and fans, promising to come back stronger. However, the apology did little to change the Barstool boss’s stance, as Portnoy outright refused to accept it and ended up becoming the loudest voice for his suspension.
“I’ve never been a huge accepting-the-apology guy,” he added. “It’s just wildly disrespectful, in my view, to everybody involved in the tournament, everybody who played in the tournament, everybody who produced the tournament, everybody who watched the tournament. It ruined the last day, and it would have been a f**king great match.
“So Salim’s a nice kid, he is. And I hope he gets the help he needs, but my God, he f**king ruined it. And we were having a group chat… And I’m like, ‘Are we giving him a five-year ban, a lifetime ban?’ And there was serious dissension within this group chat of people like, ‘No, f**k, he’s the villain. He’s coming back. We got to bring him back for a redemption arc.’
“I said, ‘I would quit. I would quit if Salim plays next year.’ This isn’t a Big John 0.0. This is like, I’ll f**king quit if Salim comes back. We want to give him a year of suspension, a five-year suspension. I’d probably go three to five-year suspension. He ain’t playing next year… there’s gotta be consequences for your actions.”
And Sirur deserves all of it. If you needed a refresher, the YouTube golfer had consumed several alcoholic drinks during the competition. And his behavior eventually created tension within Team Red. At one point, he took a beer from teammate Big John’s hand, prompting Ryan Whitney to intervene. The situation escalated when Portnoy stepped in over Sirur’s golf cart privileges.
Sirur, however, pushed back, insisting, “I’m not hammered!” The exchange quickly attracted attention online, with viewers criticizing his conduct. Team Red eventually lost the final to Team Blue on the 15th hole, adding to the scrutiny surrounding Sirur’s performance. That said, this is hardly the only controversy to come out of the event.
Wesley Bryan explains his tweet about the Internet Invitational
Former PGA Tour pro Wesley Bryan sparked a debate among golf fans after questioning whether the Internet Invitational would be better with the world’s eight best golfers replacing the eight weakest players. His post, which referenced stars such as Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, drew considerable backlash, with many fans defending the content creators who make the YouTube event entertaining.
The tweet also became a subject of discussion on the Pardon My Take podcast, adding to the attention surrounding Bryan’s controversial take. However, the former PGA Tour pro has now explained what prompted him to post the question.
Speaking on the Fore Play Podcast, Bryan, who leads Team Bryan in the event, said he already knew what the general response would be.
“It was just a thought-provoking question of would a golf event be better if you had better players, or the best eight players in the world, and I think the general consensus, the answer was no,” he explained. “When I put that out on the internet, I knew exactly what the answer was going to be because I’ve toyed around with those types of scenarios before.”
From the looks of things, the 2026 Internet Invitation was one of the more dramatic tournaments in a while. But the way it performed, fans will be waiting for another season to drop next year.