Golf Influencer Paige Spiranac Addresses Rumors She Did ‘Favors’ To Advance Golf Career

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Jacob BarkerMarch 29, 2025, 9:51 pmNews >

Golf influencer Paige Spiranac has come forward to address the rumors of engaging in “favors” to advance her career.

Spiranac became the center of “difficult” online chatter during her first professional golf tournament in 2015, with many accusing her of not earning the invite on her skills alone. “There were constant comments like, ‘I did favors to get this invite,'” Spiranac said in an episode of the Quiet Please! podcast. “I was listening to it, and they would say [it] within earshot of me.”

“It was my first pro event; it was difficult. I just wanted to be liked, and I played so bad, it was horrendous,” Spiranac, 32, said. “This was back when people weren’t going viral all the time, and I didn’t know how to handle it, and my whole world got flipped upside down.”

Spiranac hasn’t been shy about creating viral moments for herself, including offering to replace prominent golf announcers.

Reflecting on her career, Spiranac revealed she quickly rose to fame after going viral, but she wasn’t prepared for the attention she would receive from the public and the media. After one event, her social media following increased from 500 to 100,000 followers.

“I showed up and was doing hours of press, which I was not prepared for,” she noted. “I had no training to do this.”

While others supported her ability, Spiranac said that the majority of women she encountered were less welcoming. Due to her brand deals and internet profile, she felt she had “ruffled feathers” within the golf community.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2018, Spiranac recalled how the constant remarks about her led to an emotional moment before the 2015 tournament. “I was sitting in the bathroom just balling,” she recalled. “I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to go through this pain, this feeling of helplessness. Being alone, scared.”

Spiranac made headlines last month when she mocked the failure of the Hawk Tuah Girl’s meme coin.