Jon Gruden lights up the Internet Invitational

Before anyone watches the clip: by his own crew's standards, Gruden was supposed to be the hype man in this field, not the guy hitting shots.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Jon Gruden was absolutely DIALED at the Internet Invitational

Somebody on the course called him a sick puppy, and the clip got posted by at least 3 Barstool accounts before lunch. Fore Play went with TWO SPORT ATHLETE, which is the right amount of disrespect for a Super Bowl coach. Fair warning: the clip shows a 175-yard number, a flag and a chip, so don't go telling your buddies he holed it. It's the swagger that sells it, not a scorecard.

Some background on how this got here. The 2nd Internet Invitational was filmed August 10-17 at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri, with 64 players split into 4 teams of 16. Gruden didn't captain a team. He played for Ryan Ruffels' side, and episode 3 was set to drop November 2, which is why the timeline is full of him today. The early previews pegged him as one of the weaker golfers in the field but the best speech guy, and Dave even ended up writing a pairing veto that people started calling the Gruden rule.

That underdog thing clearly stuck with him. Gruden was on remote for Wake Up Barstool Monday morning, and during a break he described what it felt like heading out with his group.

Viva La Stool

@VivaLaStool

Talking about the Internet Invitational during the break: “It’s no fun to feel like Mississippi State getting into a cart knowing you’re gonna get your ass kicked” -Gruden

"It's no fun to feel like Mississippi State getting into a cart knowing you're gonna get your ass kicked" is a perfect Gruden line. It's a college football insult and a golf memory in one sentence, and it tells you nobody had Team Ruffels as the favorite. Here's the thing though: on day 1, Ruffels' team beat Peter Finch's in a sudden-death playoff to move on, and Wesley Bryan's team went through too. Whatever the cart ride felt like, the guys who were supposed to get beat lived to play another day.

There's still plenty of series left. Episode 4 is due November 5, episode 5 November 9 and the finale November 12, so we'll see whether the 175-yard approach was a one-off or the start of a real Gruden run. Either way, he's already won the clip game.