How often do you see a YouTuber getting an exemption to compete on the PGA Tour? Rarely. Then, how often do you see the said YouTuber turning down the invite? Never. This is what happened with Grant Hovart. All thanks to the strong community he has built, Hoavrt was invited to play in the Barracuda Championship, but he declined the invite. The prime reason was the PGA Tour not allowing him to bring his camera crew. And for Horvat, if his fans couldn’t be part of the journey, it wasn’t worth showing up. Had Hovart been granted the permission, Jay Monahan would not have liked it.

On the Dan On Golf show, Dan and Alan Shipnuck discussed the situation. Praising Hovart’s intention of just being a YouTuber, not a pro, Rapaport said, “Grant is not one of these YouTubers who is like…I want to be a PGA Tour player… For him, the whole point of this is to be like, I played in a PGA Tour event. Here’s what it’s like, so if he can’t do that, then…he is just another player in the field.” Grant’s career took off because he brought people inside the game, sharing every shot, every behind-the-scenes moment. His success didn’t come through the usual path. It came from filming his journey and making fans feel like they were walking the course with him.

“If they let someone inside filming a competition, that’s a can of worms. And every player can be like, I want to do that; I will hire a camera crew. It was the can of worms situation,” said Dan, and understandably so. If one player is granted filming access, it becomes difficult to deny the same to others. Players could begin hiring personal camera crews, leading to a cluttered and inconsistent media presence. This risks disrupting the uniformity of the competition and creates operational challenges on and off the course. And it’s not just about clutter.

If Jay Monahan allows Grant Horvat to film his journey while playing PGA Tour events, it would set a precedent the Tour has long tried to avoid. The PGA Tour has strict media rights policies for a reason: controlling all broadcast footage helps protect its multi-million-dollar deals with networks like CBS, NBC, and ESPN. Allowing players to create and monetize their own content, especially during rounds, would chip away at the Tour’s exclusive hold on golf coverage.

Phil Mickelson also called out the Tour’s hypocrisy on allowing its players to have digital media rights, since it would mean less money for the PGA Tour and less authority over the players: “Why hasn’t golf had cameras and microphones on players and caddies?” Phil asked. He answered his question.

“Because the player would not benefit, only the tour [so players resist wearing them]. Take this Netflix project that is underway. None of the players are getting paid. But the tour is getting paid a lot of money. As is Augusta National. As is the USGA. But if the players had their own channel, maybe they’d put up their own content, and we’d start to see golf presented a bit more intimately. If I had access to my own channel and access to my own media, I would have a camera and microphone on my hat. And on my [caddie] brother’s hat. And on my golf bag with a 360 view. And I would bring the viewers in. They would see and hear what is going on,” Phil said.

Media rights are the line the Tour doesn’t want to cross. It definitely sparked debate across the golf world, but Horvat wasn’t standing alone. Some big names quickly stepped up in his support.

Golf community stands with Grant Horvat

Even back in May, while playing a round with Scottie Scheffler, Grant was already unsure about accepting the invite. Scottie told him he deserved it and encouraged him to go for it. But for Grant, it wasn’t that simple. He had a clear priority: his audience. Alan Shipnuck brought it to light that Hovart only wanted one person with the camera near the rope, who would have just recorded the play. The YouTuber would have been mic’d up, but he would not have interrupted play in any way. For Shipnuck and others, denying something so basic felt unnecessary.

Wesley Bryan, who even called out this as the Tour’s hypocrisy, didn’t mince words when he saw what was unfolding with Grant Horvat. He tweeted, “Stay away from YouTube golf. What you all are doing to Grant Horvat is a joke.” As a YouTuber himself who is now banned by the PGA Tour, Bryan knows exactly how it feels to be sidelined for doing things differently. His words pointed straight at the hate Grant was getting, suggesting that this wasn’t just about rules; it was about the Tour turning its back on the new wave of golfers.

Makena White, the girlfriend of PGA Tour pro Jake Knapp, also spoke out in support. She tweeted, “I think it’s really cool & mature that 26-year-old Grant Horvat realizes his YouTube channel & subscribers got him where he is today.” Her words pointed to something deeper, that Grant wasn’t just chasing views or clout. He understood that the people who followed his journey from the beginning were still with him, and he wasn’t about to leave them behind just because he made it to the big stage.

Whether or not the PGA Tour made the right call, one thing’s certain: they’ve lost a good amount of viewership from Grant Horvat’s loyal fanbase.