Golf influencer Paige Spiranac is speaking publicly for the first time about accusations that she cheated during Barstool Sports’ Internet Invitational tournament. The claims stem from footage recorded during the final match this summer, showing Spiranac pressing down tall grass in front of the ball belonging to her playing partner, Malosi Togisala.
Although their team lost the one million dollar prize, some viewers argued that she improved his lie, which is a penalty under golf rules. Spiranac addressed the controversy on her Instagram Story during a Q&A session earlier this week. She said that while “there’s not much to say” about the moment, she felt “painfully embarrassed” after realizing that patting the grass was a rule violation.
“I would never intentionally cheat. In all my years of playing golf, I have never been accused of cheating,” she said. “There were so many cameras on me. To blatantly cheat with that many people around, that many cameras around, would be insane. So, I made a mistake. I learned now that it was a rules infraction, and I’ll never do it again.”
The fallout has taken a serious toll. In another Instagram Story, Spiranac said the last week brought the “worst hate” she has seen in her ten years in the sport. “I’m talking tens of thousands of death threats, people telling me to kill myself,” she said. “The most vile, horrendous stuff you could ever say to an individual that’s been in my DMs to the point where we were discussing me having to potentially get a restraining order.
I mean, it’s serious stuff. It’s not easy, and it hasn’t been easy,” Spiranac explained that she stayed quiet at first because she “needed to remove” herself from the backlash for the sake of her mental health. She described struggling with wanting to be accepted and fearing people disliking her.
“And, so, it’s just hard for me as a person with how I process things, and then obviously the situation has not been easy either,” she said. “But, luckily, having a good support system, family around, and just trying to stay distracted.”
Her team lost the championship on the 18th hole. The tournament, filmed over the summer and overseen by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy as rules official, included 48 golf content creators. The six-episode series premiered on YouTube this month.
Togisala faced separate allegations during the event for using the slope feature on his rangefinder. Players were allowed rangefinders but not the slope option, which measures elevation. He later told the Good Good Podcast that the feature was on only during the first hole and that his group wasn’t informed of the rule until afterward.
“I’ll die on this hill,” he said. “The slope was off.”
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