The Internet invitational tarnished Paige Spiranac’s image and she said she received a lot of hate after it.
Spiranac was part of the final group in a 48-person tournament of golf influencers and YouTubers powered by Barstool Sports and Bob Do Sports. They were paired with Barstool’s Frankie Borelli and Good Good Golf’s Malosi Togisala along with Good Good’s Brad Delke and Barstool’s Cody “Beef” Frank and Francis Ellis.
Spiranac’s team lost the $1 million prize on the 18th hole of the final match, and many viewers considered this to be karma after both Spiranac and Togisala were embroiled in cheating scandals. Spiranac was caught on film correcting the lie in the final match, claiming he thought it was allowed and then began to cry.
Later, Togisala was speculated to have been using the slope on his rangefinder. Rangefinders were allowed, but slope use was not permitted.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Spiranac, who had previously criticized Ellis at the start of the championship by calling him out for not playing “competitive golf”, said he had received “thousands of death threats” since the championship match was posted on YouTube during “an interesting week”.
“The last week and a half has probably been the worst hate I’ve gotten in the 10 years I’ve been doing this,” Spiranac said on his Instagram Story. “I’m talking about thousands of death threats, people telling me to kill myself. The most vile, horrible things you can say to a person have been in my DMs to the point where we were discussing me potentially getting a restraining order. I mean, it’s serious. It’s not easy, and it’s not easy.”
Spiranac has been quite quiet on social media since missing the championship match.
Paige Spiranac competes at the 2025 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 28, 2025 in New York City. (Anna Weber/Getty Images for Maestro Dobel Tequila)
Two-time US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau continues fine-tuning every aspect of his game
“I know people are wondering why I didn’t post or why I didn’t talk about it. I just needed to remove myself for my mental health,” she said.
“One thing I really struggle with is wanting to be liked and accepted, and I don’t want anyone to ever dislike me. And I always try to do everything I can to get people to like me. And, so, how I process things as a person, it’s been hard for me and then obviously the situation hasn’t been easy either. But, luckily, having a good support system, family around and just trying to stay distracted.”
Spiranac again claimed not to know the rules for correcting a lie, saying that she would never intentionally deceive.
He pointed to the karma that hit him for his comments about Ellis in an Instagram Story, saying, “I’m so painfully, painfully embarrassed that I didn’t know this rule.” “I would never intentionally cheat. In all my years of playing golf, I was never accused of cheating. There were too many cameras on me. It would be crazy to cheat openly, with so many people, with so many cameras. So, I made a mistake. Now I know it was a violation of the rules, and I will never do it again.”
Paige Spiranac hits the 17th green during the Creators Classic at Philly Cricket Club prior to the Truist Championship at The Philadelphia Cricket Club in Flourtown on May 7, 2025. (Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
Click here to get the Fox News app
The program was filmed at the Cedar Lodge Resort in Ridgedale, Missouri over the summer, with the final match played in Payne Valley. Franke, one of the winners, died earlier this month.
Spiranac was one of several former professionals in the field that included Dalkey and Wesley Bryan.
Follow Fox News Digital sports coverage on xand subscribe Fox News Sports Huddle Newsletter,
<a href=