Luke Kwon - Is he entirely to blame?

Discount Golf Balls - November 3, 2025

Golf fans and social-media aficionados alike were surprised recently when Luke Kwon, the popular YouTube golf creator, turned up late for his scheduled tee time in a high-profile event. The incident has sparked lively debate—not only about Kwon’s personal responsibility, but also about how his team managed (or mis-managed) the logistics around the tee off. In this post I’ll argue that while Kwon deserves criticism for oversleeping, the greater responsibility lies with his team for failing to ensure he was ready and present at least 30 minutes before tee-off.

What happened?

According to multiple reports, Kwon was scheduled to tee off at 9 :30 a.m. at the Internet Invitational Tournament (hosted by Barstool Sports at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale). But he arrived late—enough to draw the ire of fans and commentators alike. While Kwon was permitted to play (with a penalty), what catches many’s attention is not just that he overslept, but that nobody on his team apparently noticed he wasn’t there, or made sufficient preparations ahead of his tee time.

Kwon’s responsibility: yes, he messed up

Firstly, let’s be clear: as the athlete/creator/front-man, Kwon bears responsibility. Oversleeping for a tee time—especially one in a televised or widely observed event—is unprofessional. Appointment times in golf are sacrosanct; arriving late not only impacts your own performance, but also can affect other players, the event schedule, broadcast commitments, and the integrity of the competition.When Kwon failed to be present on time, it sent a message of laxity—or worse, that priorities weren’t aligned. For someone of his standing (a content creator with significant reach, reputation and sponsorships), accountability matters. The optics alone matter, and this incident gives critics ammunition.

But the team must share the blame

However—and this is where the debate gets interesting—Kwon is not an island. In high-level content creation, tournament appearances and broadcast events, there is a team behind the scenes: logistics, scheduling, driver or transport coordination, production crew, time keeper, potentially liaisons with the event organisers. If the athlete is the face, the team is the backbone.From that standpoint, the fact that no one flagged Kwon’s absence 30 minutes before tee time is concerning.

• Why weren’t alerts or reminders triggered?

• Was his travel or lodging arranged such that he could reliably make his start?

• Did the production crew or tournament liaison verify his presence in advance?In essence: Does the team have a professional checklist for “pre-tee‐time readiness” that includes confirming the participant’s arrival, check-in, warm-up, and presence on the tee box 30 minutes ahead? If yes, it failed. If no, that’s the root of the problem.

The knock-on effects

When a participant arrives late:

• The tournament may be delayed or schedules shifted.

• Television or streaming commitments may be disrupted.

• Fellow players may be delayed.

• Production crews may scramble, leading to sub-par coverage.

• The athlete’s brand value takes a hit.Here, since Kwon is not only playing golf but also creating content for YouTube and presumably commercial partners, all of this matters. The team’s failure to deliver on time affects his brand and the reputational risk extends to sponsors and collaborators.

Healthy debate: What should be the standard?

Let’s open the floor for discussion. Several questions arise:

1. What is a fair threshold of responsibility for the athlete vs the team? Some might argue “the athlete always bears responsibility.” Others will point out that in a professional content-creation context, the team’s failings amplify the athlete’s mistakes.

2. Is 30 minutes pre-tee time a reasonable benchmark? In many tournaments, athletes and their team aim to be present even earlier, to warm up, settle in, manage media obligations or content-creation tasks. Could Kwon’s team have realistically expected him to be there 30+ minutes before? I’d argue yes.

3. How do you balance creative spontaneity with professionalism? Kwon’s appeal is partly his relaxed persona as a YouTuber. But when you step into tournament-mode with sponsors, broadcast, and organized structure, that relaxed style may conflict with professional expectations.

4. What will the remedy look like? If Kwon and his team want to avoid recurrence, they might institute a “tee-time readiness checklist” including time-based alerts, designated transport, backup alarm systems, team checkpoint 60/30/10 minutes out, pre-arrival buffer. It might sound boring, but it’s part of playing on larger stages.

Why this matters beyond a single incident

For golf content creators like Kwon, the stakes are different than for the tour professional. The viewer sees behind the scenes, authenticity matters, but so does reliability. When scheduling fiascos happen, the audience may forgive once, but they’re less forgiving if patterns emerge. Kwon’s backstory includes past punctuality issues resurfacing following this incident. The Times of IndiaMoreover, other up-and-coming YouTube golfers and creators will watch how Kwon and his team respond. If the lesson is, “oh well, we turned up late and all was well,” the standard drops. If the lesson is, “we learned, we improved our operations, we respected the schedule,” then the community elevates.

Conclusions

In summary:

• Yes, Kwon made a mistake. Oversleeping and arriving late is unprofessional and avoidable.

• But yes, his team holds a large share of the responsibility for not ensuring his presence was confirmed and his readiness managed at least 30 minutes prior to tee time.

• For the growth of creator-golf, for maintenance of brand and reputation, and for respect of competitive logistics, this incident should be a learning moment.

• The outcome of this episode should ideally be a constructive one—one that leads to better systems, clearer roles, and higher standards across creator events, not simply finger-pointing or drop in viewership.

I believe this incident is less about shaming Luke Kwon and more about holding everyone involved accountable—and starting a conversation on how content creators can stay fun, spontaneous and authentic while operating with the discipline that high-profile events demand.

What do you think? Is the athlete mostly to blame, or should we be focusing more on the support team? Would 30 minutes pre-tee arrival be a reasonable standard in tournament/creator-content settings? Let’s debate.