The golfer-turned-model has opened up on her pro debut at the 2015 Dubai Ladies Masters, describing it as the ‘worst moment of her life’ after being given the cold shoulder from her fellow female players
Paige Spiranac has spoken about the criticism she receives as a result of her media career(Image: David Becker/Getty Images for ACM)
Former golfer Paige Spiranac has recalled the treacherous time she endured at the 2015 Dubai Ladies Masters and how it almost ruined her life.
The 32-year-old had previously opened up on the online abuse she received after making her professional debut on the Ladies European Tour but has now given an insight into what she went through during the tournament in the Middle East, where she faced what she describes as “brutal” treatment from her fellow female players.
A rising star on social media, where she posted snapshots of her sultry golf outfits, Spiranac had received a sponsor’s invite to the tournament, which many believed was above her level of play. As a result, it led to accusations of the then-23-year-old performing “sexual favors” to get invited to the Dubai Masters.
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On the course, things went badly for Spiranac as she shot rounds of 77 and 79 to miss the cut, but it was what happened off it that really impacted her and left her suffering from depression. “Yeah, that was like the worst moment of my life. I’ll never forget that,” she said during an appearance on the ‘Quiet Please!’ podcast.
Opening up on the horrors of her treatment from fellow golfers to co-hosts Mel Reid and Kira Dixon, she added: “I ended up going viral and this was back when people weren’t going viral all the time and I didn’t know how to handle it and my whole life got flipped upside down. I went from having 500 followers to 100,000 followers.
“I got this invite to play an LET (Ladies European Tournament). I had just turned pro, I had never played golf outside the country. And everyone was like, ‘It’s low key, don’t worry about it. No one is going to know if you play well or not.’ I show up and was doing hours of press, which I wasn’t prepared for. I had no training to do this. And I would say there were a couple of girls who were really supportive and who were nice, but the majority, it was brutal.
Spiranac was subject to foul abuse during her pro debut at the 2015 Dubai Ladies Masters
“I would go on the range and girls would just scatter. No one wanted to hit next to me. There were constant comments like ‘I did sexual favors to get this invite,’ and I was listening to it — and they would say [it] within earshots of me. It was tough. Not knowing what I was doing, it was my first pro event, it was really difficult. I just wanted to be liked and I played so bad. It was horrendous.”
Spiranac conceded that she understood why certain eyebrows may have been raised at her sponsored invite to Dubai, claiming she had practically “walked in” to the tournament while others had “worked their a– off, week in and week out,” but could have never expected to be treated the way she was – especially by fellow female golfers.
The former University of Arizona and San Diego State University student has since hung up her clubs to go full throttle with her influencer career, now boasting 4 million followers on Instagram and 1.6 million on TikTok. Lapping up brand deals and modeling gigs, she has certainly made a name for herself.
Spiranac still has a major passion for golf, however, and launched her own subscription-based website called OnlyPaige in July 2023 to post instructional videos, livestreams, and vlogs. In early 2024, she collaborated with YouTube golf group Good Good, and has also used her own experiences to discuss being cyberbullied for “sexualizing women’s golf.”
