Salim, Whit talk Internet Invitational finale fallout
TLDR: Riggs, Fat Perez and Bobby Ray won the $4 million Internet Invitational finale in front of a 300K-plus live audience, and Salim now says he deserves every bit of the criticism that followed.
Episode 6 premiered at 1pm ET on Thursday. It was one match between 2 teams of 3, and the money split 3 ways. Riggs laid out the stakes that morning.
Today 1pET. The biggest round of our lives. Big John the man of the hour. Whit & I have nearly a decade of heated golf history. FP representing the BDS rocket ship. Salim & the Nelk Boys vs alcohol. Bobby Ray’s incredible redemption arc. $1.3M per person on the line.
That tweet sets up most of the day. The other side was Big John, Whit and Salim. Riggs and Whit have nearly 10 years of golf grudges between them. And Big John had been the story of the tournament since early on. Back on the Episode 2 recap, Fore Play was already calling him the man of the hour.
“What a performance out at Big John. Just the biggest moment you can have. And he met the moment.”
The trash talk started before anyone hit a ball. In the intro to the final match, Whit chirped Dave so much that Dave said he had switched sides. It's a bit, not a feud, but it set the tone for the afternoon.
Whit chirps so much he's got me rooting against him t.co/cmY81kfZZF
Then the episode turned to Salim. The pre-round footage shows the crew talking odds and trying to keep "the Dream" away from negative energy. Salim was having none of the worry.
Plenty of people were watching. The premiere had over 60,000 people waiting before it started, and by mid-afternoon the concurrent count was past 300K. That's a huge number for a YouTube golf show, and it's 6 episodes of edited golf, not a live PGA Tour Sunday.
The match didn't stay close. Riggs, Fat Perez and Bobby Ray's team built a lead and closed it out with holes to spare, and each of them took home about $1.3 million. Big John and Whit won a few holes back, but most of the damage came from Salim's shots, and the comments sections went after him for it. Fans called the finale a disaster and blamed one golfer, and they also criticized the production for letting the drinking go on in a match this big.
That evening, PFT Commenter gave the most useful account. He played in Salim's group earlier in the tournament, and on Macrodosing he talked about what he saw in person. He described a guy who was clearly drinking but still kept finding fairways, and then talked about how well Salim has done staying sober since.
.@PFTCommenter talks about seeing Salim play in the Internet Invitational in person
By Friday morning it had reached Spittin' Chiclets, where Whit went through his day with Salim. Whit didn't sound angry about losing $1.3 million. He talked about the hugs, an emotional moment for Salim during the round, and how heavy the whole thing got.
Then Salim joined the show himself. Biz didn't tease him. He told Salim not to let the online pile-on push him anywhere dark. Salim didn't make excuses.
“Don’t let the negative comments online get to you too much where it leads you to anything more destructive moving forward” -Biz “Well like listen, at the end of the day I deserve it. I deserve everything that’s coming to me” -Salim
That's where things stand. Salim has said he took on 90 days sober after the Invitational and is near the end of it, and the Chiclets guys made a point of backing him. The 3 winners are $1.3 million richer, and the people who watched have already started asking who gets invited to the 2027 field. For Salim, the good news is that the guys he cost the money are the ones standing up for him.
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