Luke Kwon used to open Instagram habitually every morning. Not anymore. But what could force a popular golf content creator to avoid his own feeds? The app that built his golf content career has become “not safe anymore,” with thousands of comments flooding in about an incident that occurred at an internet invitational. What happened at the Internet Invitational that sparked such backlash? The answer lies in a moment Kwon claims he didn’t even realize was disrespectful until the video went viral.

Now, after days of silence, Kwon has finally been ready to explain why he stayed quiet and offer the apology everyone’s been waiting for. Luke Kwon broke his silence with a YouTube video titled “Addressing internet invitational.” The 33-year-old Good Good Golf member didn’t hold back. He addressed his teammates directly with genuine remorse, repeating apologies to PFT Commenter and Ryan Whitney.

“I apologize like sincerely from the bottom of my heart.” The incident happened at Barstool Sports’ Internet Invitational in August 2025 at Big Cedar Lodge. Kwon overslept and missed his 9:30 AM tee time by eight minutes. Event founder Dave Portnoy slapped him with a brutal four-hole penalty in a nine-hole match. But that wasn’t the real problem.

Kwon’s behavior after arriving late sparked the outrage. He told his partner, PFT, he could miss shots without consequence. Later, when confronted at lunch, Ryan Whitney sarcastically applauded him.

“You can shank it over and over again, I don’t give a s—.”

“Luke Kwon, too good for the Internet Invitational.”

Here’s the twist: Kwon says he genuinely didn’t know he was crossing a line. He explained in his apology video that he remained unaware of his disrespectful behavior until after the footage aired. He claims his banter style was misunderstood. “I didn’t even know I was being disrespectful until this came out… I thought we were fine.”

The golfer admits he should’ve apologized immediately on the first tee box. Instead, he tried to “lighten the mood” through jokes. That approach backfired spectacularly, and that’s life. His delayed response becomes clearer when you understand how the controversy unfolded.

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How Luke Kwon’s edited content sparked viral backlash

Bob Does Sports released the tournament footage in October 2025, more than two months after the event actually took place. The video accumulated 4.3 million views. PFT’s tweet garnered 6 million views on its own. The edited content painted a damning picture of Kwon’s nonchalance. “All my homies hate Luke Kwon.”

This highlights a massive gap between creator intent and audience perception. Kwon experienced hours of interaction with PFT that didn’t make the final cut. Viewers only saw the worst moments. Meanwhile, professional golf maintains strict standards. Lipsky received a two-stroke penalty at the 2019 PGA Championship for tardiness within the five-minute grace period. Jim Furyk got disqualified entirely at the 2010 Barclays Pro-Am for oversleeping.

Social media amplified everything beyond the original context. A 2019 NBC Sports article about Kwon’s college punctuality issues resurfaced immediately. His Oklahoma coach, Ryan Hybl, nearly kicked him off the team for similar behavior. The pattern seemed undeniable to critics scrolling through Twitter.

Kwon waited only hours after the video dropped to respond. Yet his Instagram story made things worse. The sarcastic tone felt dismissive. His follow-up apology mentioned that the controversy was beneficial for engagement. “Just woke up what’d I miss?”…”Good for content tho 🙃.”

That timing mattered in today’s 24-hour social media cycle. By the time Kwon posted his genuine YouTube apology, the narrative was set. The internet had already decided he was golf’s newest villain.