Drama Unfolds at the Internet Invitational
The first day of the $1 million Internet Invitational was anything but dull.
This event, backed by Dave Portnoy, has gathered 48 prominent golf creators from YouTube, with broadcasts kicking off this week.
Paige Spiranac shared that her partner for the opening matches, Roger Steele, had “unresolved conflict” with Jake Adams. Tensions were palpable when they were filmed at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri, the site of the matches.
During the game, Steele couldn’t help but mock Adams for misreading putts, even going so far as to comment on how “breathless” Adams seemed when taking shots.
“Roger was definitely more fired up than usual in the match, and there’s a good reason for that,” Spiranac explained on X Thursday night.
One viewer chimed in, saying, “Roger kept talking to me like a child. That felt a bit rude.”
In response, Spiranac noted, “Roger was furious at what Jake did.”
There was a moment of confusion for Spiranac when Adams expressed frustration about how long he was standing over the ball at the tee.
“I wasn’t being rude at all,” she asserted, clarifying that she made one comment and later apologized on the green, which was caught on camera. “After that, I was complimenting his shot the whole time.”
In the end, Spiranac and Steele triumphed in the nine-hole alternating shot contest, helping their Orange team progress.
In this unusual format, the 48 golfers were divided into two teams of 24, playing two sets of 2-on-2, 9-hole matches.
Steele later dismissed any notion of serious tension with Adams, saying, “There wasn’t enough time to showcase our interaction. Jake is a buddy; our ‘beef’ is just an old joke. It’s how we talk during games. I’ll take the loss on that one.”
The final score saw the Orange team winning 13 1/2 to 10 1/2.
The pre-recorded event, organized by Barstool and Bob Does Sports, will be aired over the following two weeks, with three winners set to share the $1 million prize.
But that wasn’t all the drama on the opening night. Influencer Luke Kwon caused a stir by missing the first round’s tee time, which frustrated Portnoy and cost the pink team a vital point.
