How Riggs chooses his 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, racking up millions of views on each episode. But Barstool Sports host Sam “Riggs” Bozoian is no stranger to showing the behind-the-scenes drama of online golf matches. Since last year, he has taken on his “haters” by engaging in high-stakes rounds of golf — and showing footage of the matches on YouTube.

The series, which began last February, pits Bozoian against internet trolls who have criticized him on social media. There are currently eight episodes available to watch on YouTubeeach 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 the studio to break down the success of the Internet Invitational, but he also explained how he picks his “H8er” match opponents.

“It’s hard. It’s actually hard,” Bozoian said.

“It almost encourages people to lean more, like I’m going to take it really hard and then he’s going to choose me.” commented Stoltz.

“We had a plan in the beginning to film like five of (the H8er matches) before we released any of them for that reason,” Bozoian replied. “You can kind of say it. Like, I can look back if somebody sends me something bad, which happens. I can move very quickly and be like, oh if you sent me something like that in 2021. You’re probably a hateful candidate.

“So we’re going to do it this way. And then I have to give a shout out to my producer, Kyle Tims, who’s one of our editors who pressed it with The Invitation, but he’s like a guy you can find,” Bozoian continued. “So he’s just going to like, in his spare time, follow people who follow me in the comments. He’s the best. So if I put him on the case, he’s going to find people.”

But even after potential candidates are identified, it can still be difficult for the stars to align for a match.

“It’s almost like this Golden People zone that you have to try to find,” Bozoian said. “They have to really have a history of hate so that you can really play it and get people into the video. It can’t be like BS where they’re doing it just to get on camera because that’s bad. They have to be willing to actually do it, which immediately eliminates like 90 percent of people, who aren’t willing to do it. It sucks, whatever, but then every time we come out like, OK, I’ll play, they’re like, well, I’m a 7, so I’m going to need some shots.

“I’m like, no, you said there’s no way I’m like a 5 handicap,” Bozoian continued. “So if we’re playing against somebody, I’d go anywhere from a 2 to a 7 where I could play, but then you start to get into, like, if somebody has the best hate record of all time and they’re going to be perfect for the show, but they’re like a 10 handicap — I’m not sitting here pretending I’m the best player, but I’m also going to be the best golfer in the world. If you’re like a scratch, you’ll just beat me, I’m not pretending to be a scratch golfer.

“We’re like, hey, we’ve got a two-day window that we’re going to be in Boston, we’re putting up golf courses. Can you make it on August 4 or 5? And they’re like, no, I have a real life and a job. So it’s actually a lot harder to plan.”

For more from Bozoian, including his thoughts on Internet Invitational villain Luke Kwonwatch the full episode of Subpar below.

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