Paige Spiranac has taken a ridiculous amount of abuse after the fallout from the Barstool Sports Internet Invitational.
The golf influencer, who boasts 6.8 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, finally addressed the improved lie cheating controversy, revealing that it led to constant harassment and death threats from online trolls.
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Paige Spiranac attends Netflix’s “Happy Gilmore 2” New York Premiere at Lincoln Center. / IMAGO/SOPA Images
The former professional player and San Diego Aztecs standout, 32, admitted that she did not know that exact rule, unintentionally bending a sacred rule of golf in the deep fescue rough for her teammate, Malosi “Big Mo” Togisala. Yes, pun intended.
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Paige Spiranac / Instagram
“I would never intentionally cheat,” Spiranac said on her Instagram Stories. “In all of my years of playing golf, I have never been accused of cheating. I went to identify the golf ball, and when I did, I pushed some grass to the side, and then a couple of feet back, I pushed some grass aside. I never stomped down the grass. And I thought high grass was a loose impediment. If the ball didn’t move, if the lie didn’t change, the grass didn’t bend or break, or get ripped out of the ground, then it was totally within the rules. There were so many cameras on me. There were so many people around me. I mean, to blatantly cheat with that many people around, that many cameras around would be insane. So I made a mistake, I learned now it was was a rules infraction, and I’ll never do it again.”
Paige Spiranac/X
I did an entire break down of why Spiranac is not the bad guy, and now word comes from one of the winners, Barstool Sports personality and comedian Francis Ellis, revealed she gave her entire skins winnings, which amounted to about $15,000-$16,000, the popular golf influencer donated her entire earnings to Cody ‘Beef’ Frank’s foundation.
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Paige Spiranac quietly donated her Internet Invitational skins winnings to Beef’s foundation
Roger Steele quietly donated his skins winnings to his own foundation
Incredible pic.twitter.com/pkr4fkEA9i
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) December 2, 2025
Beef, a fellow golf influencer and host of Barstool’s “Fore Play” podcast, died unexpectedly in October after winning the $1 million prize with Ellis and former US Open Amateur champion Brad Dalke, while attending a wedding in the Dominican Republic before fans knew he had taken home the grand prize, which he said he would use to pay off his parent’s house.
The inaugural Internet Invitational Champions:
Cody “Beef” Franke, Brad Dalke, and Francis Ellis pic.twitter.com/S27WBzTr2D
— The Internet Invitational (@Internetinvite) November 14, 2025
When Ellis was pressed by his co-hosts if it was a publicity stunt, Ellis, who had been critical of Spiranac, defended her.
“She didn’t ask anyone to tell,” Ellis said. “She didn’t do that, she didn’t expect that to come out. You had to tell the Barstool payroll person how to give their money, and she just told that person ‘send it to Beef’s family.’”
Spiranac proving yet again that she was indeed, not the bad guy.
Paige Spiranac/X
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