How Barstool's Riggs picks his ‘H8er' match opponents
The Internet Invitational – a made-for-YouTube tournament hosted by Barstool Sports and Bob Does Sports – has taken the online golf world by storm, amassing millions of views in each episode. But Barstool Sports host Sam “Riggs” Bozoian is no stranger to showcasing behind-the-scenes drama of golf matches online. Since last year, he’s been confronting his “haters” by engaging in high-stakes rounds of golf – and showcasing the footage of the matches on YouTube.
The series, which launched last February, pits Bozoian against internet trolls who have criticized him on social media. There are currently eight episodes available to view on YouTube, each of which has amassed hundreds of thousands of views.
On this week’s episode of Subpar, Bozoian joined hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz in studio to break down the success of the Internet Invitational, but he also explained how he selects his “H8er” match opponents.
“It’s hard. It’s actually hard,” Bozoian said.
“It almost incentivizes people to lean in more, like I’m gonna go at him super hard, and then he’ll pick me.” Stoltz commented.
Barstool Sports host weighs in on Internet Invitational villain Luke Kwon
“We had a plan at the beginning to film like five of [the H8er matches] before we released any of them because of that reason,” Bozoian replied. “You can kind of tell. Like, I could look back if somebody DMs me something mean, which happens. I can scroll through pretty quickly and be like, oh if you also sent me something similar in 2021. You’re probably a hater candidate.
“So we’ll do it that way. And then I gotta shout out my producer, Kyle Tims, who’s one of our editors who crushed it with the Invitational, but he is like as ride-or-die a guy as you could possibly find,” Bozoian continued. “So he’ll just like, in his free time, go after people that are going after me in the comments. He’s the best. So if I put him on the case, he’ll find people.”
But even once potential candidates are identified, it can still be difficult for the stars to align for a match.
“It’s almost like this Goldilocks zone of people that you have to try to find,” Bozoian said. “They need to truly have a history of hate so that you can really play it up and it gets people in the video. It can’t be like BS where they’re doing it just to get on camera, because that sucks. They need to be willing to actually do it, which right away eliminates like 90 percent of the people, who are not willing to actually do it. And then they do have to be in the sweet spot from a handicap range because like, I get people think I suck, whatever, but then every time we ever come up like, OK, I’ll play it, they’re like, well, I’m a 7, so I’m gonna need a couple of shots.
“I’m like, no, you said there’s no way I’m like a 5 handicap,” Bozoian continued. “So if we play against someone, I would go anywhere from like a 2 to a 7 I could play against, but then you start to get into, like, if someone’s got the best hate record of all time and they’re gonna be perfect for the show, but they’re like a 10 handicap – I’m not sitting here claiming I’m the best golfer in the world, but it will be a stupid video. I’ll just kill you. And also if you’re like a scratch, you’ll just beat me. I’m not claiming I’m a scratch golfer. So you gotta find people that are like right in that area, and then you get people that like just from a logistics standpoint can’t do it.
“We’re like, hey, we have a two-day window we’re gonna be in Boston, we’re setting up golf courses. Can you make it August 4th or 5th? And they’re like, no, I have a real life and a job. So it’s actually way harder to schedule.”
For more from Bozoian, including his thoughts on Internet Invitational villain Luke Kwon, check out the full episode of Subpar below.
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