Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy made an appearance on Fox Business Network’s Varney and Company on Monday morning to discuss a variety of topics.
During the show Portnoy and host Stuart Varney had a very transparent discussion about several recent breaking news stories that included the news that Barstool Sports had inked a sponsorship with the Arizona Bowl and the story that PENN National Gaming/Barstool Sports acquired theScore app last week for $2 billion in cash/stocks; however, Portnoy’s controversial comment that PGA golfer Brooks Koepka was “…mentally weak” stole the show and captured the headlines today.
The contentious chirp was elicited after Varney asked Portnoy about his upcoming charity golf match against Koepka. Portnoy confirmed the charity event by simply saying “yes”, which then prompted Varney to follow up by asking “Wait a second. He’s going to play left handed, right?”
A wise man once said “some things are bigger than sports” and Portnoy’s response indicated that this charity golf match against Koepka was one of those things.
He began the chirp at Koepka by answering, “Correct. Well Stuart, I’m very confident in myself, but I know I can’t beat him if he’s playing as — I mean, he’s won a ton of majors. So I did win the U.S. Open, and let me clarify, they said I couldn’t beat the U.S. Open score with unlimited mulligan, which I did.
“So I declared myself champion. Brooks started chirping that I had terrible left-handed swing. Next thing I know, we have a $250,000 bet. The winner gets to choose the charity, and he plays lefty and I am a lefty”.
The electric conversation continued with Portnoy saying “Now he may have been sandbagging me a little bit, but let me say this about Brooks Koepka and I hope people clip this, he’s mentally weak and I’m mentally strong. So golf, you know, golf for all those country club kids, they’re not used to people being in their kitchen, in their brain. So yes, Brooks Koepka against other soft golfers, we’ll see how he does when the pressure’s on”.
Varney decided to add fuel to the fire by replying “See — this is, this is Dave Portnoy at his best. He is mentally weak. Now there’s a headline that everybody’s going to grab hold of immediately, and you got a grudge match. Before you know where you are, it’s a grudge match”.
Portnoy wrapped the topic up with a controversial, calculated, and cold-blooded statement. He simply said “Well, he is mentally weak”.
It is clear that both men are battle tested with Portnoy battling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Koepka conflicting with rival golfer Bryson Dechambeau; but when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force at a charity golf tournament, then any outcome is possible.