'I'm Not Hammered': Salim's Drunken Night Wrecks the Internet Invitational Finale

Salim Sirur spent the biggest night of YouTube golf insisting he was fine, and the whole internet watched him prove otherwise. The YouTube golfer known as Salim the Dream drank his way through the 2026 Internet Invitational finale at Big Cedar Lodge’s Payne’s Valley course until tournament organiser Dave Portnoy stepped in, took his golf cart keys away, and told him on camera that he was totally hammered. Salim’s answer, “I’m not hammered!”, is now the defining line of a $4 million championship that fans say he wrecked single-handedly.

What happened on the course?

A slow unraveling, in front of millions of viewers. Salim had been drinking heavily throughout both the semifinal and the 18-hole alternate-shot championship match, taking repeated tequila shots and drinking beers on nearly every hole, EssentiallySports reports. The defining moment came when Portnoy intervened over Salim’s golf cart privileges, telling him, “Salim, we’re going to give you a driver so you don’t run anybody over.” Salim pushed back and insisted he was not hammered. Portnoy replied, “You’re totally hammered.” Fellow Barstool personality Paul Bissonnette, known as Biz, and co-founder Robby Berger also stepped in to address Salim directly on the course. The concern was not only the broadcast: allowing a visibly impaired player to operate a motorised cart on a busy commercial resort property was a safety and liability risk for the organisers, and Portnoy said they would have someone drive him home. Frank Kennedy’s Q-School disqualification for damaging a green showed the same week that golf is cracking down hard on poor behaviour, and Salim’s night was the creator-golf version of the same argument.

Who won, and what did it cost?

Team Blue, and Salim’s teammates paid the price. Despite advancing to the championship round, Salim’s Team Red, which included Ryan Whitney and Big John, ultimately lost on the 15th hole to Team Blue’s Fat Perez, Riggs and Bobby Ray. The winning trio split the $4 million prize, with each player taking home $1.33 million. Heavy reports the loss was never close, and the format made it worse: alternate-shot golf requires partners to hit every other stroke with the same ball, so one player’s unraveling directly penalises the rest of the team. At one point Salim took a beer directly out of teammate Big John’s hand, sparking tension that Whitney had to step in and mediate to keep team morale intact. Whitney and Big John avoided a full-blown blowup on air and kept playing alongside him, but the strain was evident, and Heavy reports fans said both deserved a better ending after a chance to compete for $1.33 million each.

Why did fans turn on him so fast?

Because the entertainment stopped being funny. The moment drew attention online quickly, with fans criticising Salim’s slurred speech, stumbling and erratic play, EssentiallySports reports. On social media, one viewer wrote, “Salim is completely intoxicated. He seems to be gazing in multiple directions at once.” Another said, “Salim has made this completely unwatchable. It has ruined what was a 10/10 production.” Heavy reports the consensus was that what began as an entertaining storyline had turned into second-hand embarrassment, and plenty of fans criticised Barstool and Bob Does Sports for not stepping in sooner, arguing that content should not come at the expense of someone’s dignity. Others wondered how a player could show up in that condition with so much money on the line. The DP World Tour telling LIV players to choose between membership and the Ryder Cup was the week’s other golf story about a sport deciding what it will tolerate, and the Internet Invitational finale asked the same question from the opposite end of the game.

What did Salim say afterwards?

He apologised, and he said the night changed him. Following the broadcast of the episodes, Salim issued a public apology on Instagram, acknowledging that watching the footage back was difficult and revealing that his behaviour at Payne’s Valley directly prompted him to start a 90-day sobriety challenge immediately after filming wrapped, EssentiallySports reports. He said he was nearly finished with the 90 days when the finale aired. After episode four he had tweeted, “There’s a reason I challenged myself to 90 days sober after the Internet invitational. Watching these episodes back is a good reminder of why I started. 87/90.” He did not directly address Portnoy’s comment, though his statement suggested he understood why fans were upset. Some viewers dismissed the sobriety statement as damage control, while others on the TigerDroppings forum argued a 24-year-old on vacation getting drunk does not mean he has a problem, a split that shows how much of the backlash is about the stakes rather than the drinking itself.

What happens next?

The fallout is now a question about what YouTube golf becomes. The creator-golf boom was built on casual vibes, on-course drinks and unfiltered personalities, yet as prize pools climb into the millions, expectations around competitive accountability are shifting fast. McIlroy took a two-shot penalty in Abu Dhabi for an improved lie in the same season the tours have policed conduct harder than ever, and the Internet Invitational finale asked the same question from the opposite end of the game. Berger acknowledged that drinking responsibly was expected, and that excessive drinking could become unfair to teammates if it affected play, while also noting Salim had played exceptionally well while drunk earlier in the event, which may explain why nobody intervened more aggressively sooner. Whether Salim returns for another season is unclear, but based on the reaction, Heavy reports plenty of fans would rather he did not. His 90-day sobriety challenge may determine whether the Internet Invitational’s most polarising personality gets another chance, and Blades Brown becoming the youngest Korn Ferry graduate to earn a PGA Tour card was the week’s reminder that golf’s next generation is arriving fast, with or without its loudest characters. If Salim returns in 2027, the question will not just be whether he can play, but whether he can deliver the entertainment value that made him popular without turning a $4 million tournament into a sideshow.