You couldn’t script the kind of drama that seems to take place at the Internet Invitational. Last year, Luke Kwon slept through his tee time, and Melosi was dragged through the mud for allegedly having the slope on his rangefinder on illegally. This season, it’s been gripping match after gripping match, with the second episode offering double playoff action in an alternate shot format.
** Spoiler Warning:
If you haven’t watched the video and don’t want spoilers, go watch the video and come back to this article. The final results of the second episode are revealed below…
EPISODE 2 OUT NOW:
That Did Not Just Happen!
The episode was titled “That Did Not Just Happen,” and there’s an extremely good reason for it. In an alt-shot format to finish the back nine of Day 1, a close match between Team Blue (led by Peter Finch) and Team White (led by Ryan Ruffels) came down to a playoff.
The rules were as follows: a 2-v-2 alt shot for the first playoff hole. Each team could pick their two best players. If that hole was tied, they would play it again, but each team would have to pick two new players. If that second playoff hole remained tied, teams could go back to whatever two players they wanted—essentially, the same two players could not play the hole twice in a row.
Finch and Luke Kwon started for Team Blue. Ruffels and Micah Morris started for Team White. The hole ended in a tie, with Kwon making a four-footer to carry the match over. It was a redemption story for Kwon, who was the villain in last year’s video series.
** Internet Invitational Spoiler Warning No. 2
The redo of the hole then featured Roger Steele and Rick Shiels for Team Blue against Big John and Grant Horvat for Team White. Horvat didn’t want the pressure and tried to talk his captain out of selecting him, but Ruffels selected Horvat regardless and pumped him up despite his obvious anxiety. Steele smoked his ball down the fairway, leaving his partner just 100 yards out. Big John got an unlucky bounce and wound up in the fairway bunker.
That put the pressure on Horvat, who didn’t want to be in the match to begin with. He came up clutch and stuck one out of the bunker to within 20 feet. Shiels was just outside that distance. That meant Team Blue went first, and Steele putted the ball to within a foot. Big John had to make to win the match and move Team White to Day 2.
In what was perhaps the most high-pressure putting situation in YouTube history, Big John drained the putt, slowly dropping it over the edge. He raised one arm in the air, and his entire team rushed the green to congratulate him.
Team Blue was out. Team White moves on to face Team Green on Day 2.
Who Is Big John?
Known as the “Viva Guy”, as described on his YT Golf Stats profile, John Melstrom II, known as “Big John,” is an American golf content creator who has rapidly built a following through creative challenges, on-course matches, and humorous videos. A frequent collaborator at creator events, he’s become a fan favorite and one of creator golf’s fastest-growing personalities.
That said, he wasn’t even supposed to be at this year’s event. He got a last-minute invite from Robby Berger of Bob Does Sports, despite Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy not wanting him there. Throughout the series, Portnoy has said he hates the guy, and in one scene, said to his face, “I don’t like you.”
The Greatest Putt in YouTube History?
Given how viral this moment is going to go, Portnoy probably loves Big John Now.
The putt was an intense pressure putt that kept Team White in the competition and gave them a chance to win more money than has ever been given away at any YouTube golf event. Big John will become a YouTube golf sensation overnight, as the video already has nearly 3 million views.
Using a putter called the Reaper—a backward blade that is perhaps the most unorthodox club in the world—Big John stole the show. And the fact that he dropped that putt in front of Portnoy and gave everyone on his team a chance to win their split of $4 million will make this the biggest putt in YouTube history.
2026 Internet Invitational Delivers Wildest Finish in YouTube Golf History