Stories of The Q at Myrtle Beach: Luke Kwon, from Door-to-Door to the Verge of the PGA TOUR

Luke Kwon:
Well, first off, thanks for having me. This is an unbelievable opportunity. I started taking golf seriously when I was 12 years old. I was always around golf because my dad would go out and hit some balls on the range and stuff like that, so I’d follow along.

I never started YouTube as a means to make fun matches, go around to different places like I am now. The whole point of me making YouTube, I was actually going from house to house with little brochures and trying to hang them on their doorknobs, basically trying to pitch myself and try to find some sponsors all while knowing there’s no way anyone’s going to say yes to this thing. And I just knew this is going to be a waste of time, but I was like, at that point, desperate.

Further along the road, I was watching some YouTube and figured I could do the same thing I was doing with the brochures, but just make it on to a YouTube thing and bring that traffic over to the website, try to find some sponsors and investors to be able to fund this thing.

I just knew in 2022, I lost status on Latin America, I didn’t have status anymore, anywhere, and so I was like, you know what? I’ve had this YouTube thing in the back pocket for so long and I’ve just been half-assing it, and what if I put full [inaudible 00:01:21]? That’s where the eyeballs are and you can’t really fight against that. It is not only just you guys realizing, it’s Callaway and TaylorMade, all these club companies, the amount of eyeballs is just night and day different.

It’s been a while since I’ve played a tournament. Hopefully, it’s kind of like riding a bike. It’s really you against the golf course. If I can go take care of my business on the par 5s, get a couple bonus birdies here or there, and if I can get to 6 under par, I’ve done what I can and if someone beats me, fair game.

There’s almost a mode that you click into sometimes where you recognize pivotal moments in around where you have to make this putt to keep your momentum going. I think my game is honestly there, it’s just a matter of how my putter is the day. I think there is a chance, yeah. Obviously, I know there’s a lot of great players, not just YouTubers. I got to beat eight other good pro golfers. It’s not going to be a cakewalk by any means, but number game-wise, there’s not an opportunity as good as it is for a Monday qualifier. It’s a PGA TOUR event.

I’m on the side of YouTube golf now instead of the pros.