The YGT Event 2 Wildcards
The second event of YGT is officially upon us, with its first episode having been released at midday ET on August 31. This one will take a bit longer to get through, with the three episodes set to be released each Monday for the next three weeks, meaning we won’t get a result until mid-September. What we do already know, however, is which four players each team has selected to be their wildcard throughout the event, which took place at Rams Hill Golf Club. Take a look at all four of them below.
Team Grant – John Daly Jr
John Daly Jr is best known, as you might have guessed, for being John Daly’s son, but the 23-year-old is a pretty handy golfer in his own right. He had a strong collegiate career at the University of Arkansas and posted numerous solid amateur results along the way – most notably a quarter-final finish at last year’s US Amateur Championship – before earlier this year turning pro.
His PGA Tour debut came at the Puerto Rico Open where he posted a second-round 67 to make the cut, though that remains his only appearance at the top level to date. There is plenty of physical resemblance between Daly Jr and his dad, but don’t expect him to turn up to YGT chain smoking in a pair of flamingo pants. Regardless of outfit, however, he should be a very useful addition to Team Grant.
Team George – Nick Voke
There was plenty of speculation that Voke would be called up for this tournament, and Team George is the lucky recipient of his services. Voke is among the absolute best golfers in the YouTube space – for reference, the Kiwi plays plenty of golf with the Kiwi crew of Taco, Tooms etc, and he’s better than all of them.
According to Handicap Tracker Voke has a handicap of +6.7, putting him marginally ahead of Ruffels and Walsh, so he will immediately be right up there with the best players at this event. He’s also got no shortage of experience both in tournament settings – he’s a 3x PGA Tour China winner – or in front of the bright lights of YouTube, on which he started his own channel just a few weeks ago. Team George needed a boost after a disappointing showing in event one, and in Voke they’ve got exactly that.
Team Dalke – Asaeli Marika Batibasaga
You might not recognise his full name, but most YouTube golf fans will be familiar with Bat. He’s best known as a major part of The Lads YouTube channel alongside Jason Day and Ryan Ruffels, but he had a reasonably accomplished career prior to that. Despite being the son of a rugby legend, Bat caught the golf bug at an early age, and rose to prominence courtesy of back-to-back wins at the Fiji Open in 2005 and 2006 (Bat’s father is from Fiji).
But professional golf would ultimately push Bat to breaking point and many years ago ledto a bipolar diagnosis, an experience he has happily shared with specifically high school children as a way to spread awareness. Nowadays, his golfing career is centred on YouTube alongside Day, his childhood friend, Ruffels and a couple of others, on a channel which has accumulated 228k followers. He doesn’t have a listed YT handicap on Handicap Tracker, but the names with whom he shares his channel should give you some idea of his talent level.
Team Wesley – Evans Lewis
Finally to Team Wesley, the runners-up at the inaugural Your Golf Tour tournament. Probably the least known of these four wildcards, Lewis has a personal connection to Wes, so much so that the two played a 1 v 1 match which was posted both to the Bryan Bros channel, and to Lewis’ own channel, which prior to that video had posted exactly zero times. Not a bad way to get your name up in lights.
Prior to that, Lewis had a really decorated college career. He was a two-time NCAA Div II All-American at North Greenville, before qualifying individually for the Div I Championship in 2022. Since then he’s been pushing to make it at the top level but hasn’t quite been able to break through, advancing through the first stage of Q-School in 2023 but no further, and competing in US Open qualifying at Solina (the Bryan Bros’ course) last year but failing to make it. But hey, he’s still young, and who needs pro golf when you’re on YGT anyway?
So there you have it – the second bunch of wildcards for the inaugural season of YGT. Interestingly, the teams which struggled the most in Event #1 have arguably the best wildcards – all four teams would have loved Voke but it’s the loser (or fourth-placed getters, if you will) from Pursell Farms which got him, while third-placed Team Grant have picked up a guy who has played on the PGA Tour this year. Expect those two to provide a massive boost for their respective teams. Bat is also an excellent golfer and while Evans Lewis is a little more of an unknown, his decorated college career suggests he knows how to swing a club. Make no mistake – this is a very handy quartet of golfers.
Check out all the standings following the first event of Your Golf Tour on our dedicated YGT Standings page.
