A single moment on camera turned a light-hearted internet golf tournament into a storm of scandal and online hate. But was it really cheating—or just an innocent mistake taken too far? And this is the part most people miss: what followed was darker than anyone expected.
Golf influencer Paige Spiranac has broken her silence after facing intense backlash over her actions at Barstool Sports’ Internet Invitational tournament. During the competition’s final round this summer, cameras caught her pressing down a section of thick grass in front of her teammate Malosi Togisala’s ball. That small motion, while seemingly harmless, immediately drew accusations that she improved his lie—a violation of the rules of golf. Despite the controversy, their team didn’t win the $1 million prize.
Speaking in a recent Instagram Q&A, Spiranac described the moment as “painfully embarrassing” and insisted she never had any intent to cheat. She emphasized that with so many cameras around, deliberately breaking the rules would have made no sense. “It was a mistake,” she admitted, explaining that she hadn’t realized tapping the grass counted as an infraction. “I know now, and I’ll make sure it never happens again.”
But embarrassment quickly turned into something far worse. Spiranac revealed that the week after the clip surfaced, she endured the “worst hate” she’s faced in her decade-long career. According to her, she received tens of thousands of death threats and messages urging her to harm herself—so severe that her team considered filing a restraining order. “It’s been serious, it’s been terrifying, and it hasn’t been easy,” she confessed.
For a while, she avoided discussing the controversy to protect her mental health. “I always want to be liked and accepted,” she said, admitting that criticism hits her especially hard. “It’s been tough processing everything, but I’m staying grounded thanks to family, friends, and focusing on distractions.”
In the end, Spiranac’s team lost the Internet Invitational at the 18th hole. The six-part series, filmed during the summer and released by Barstool Sports on YouTube, featured 48 golf content creators and was refereed by Barstool founder Dave Portnoy himself. But Spiranac wasn’t the only one under fire—her teammate Togisala was also accused of breaking rules when fans noticed he was using the slope feature on his rangefinder. This function helps measure elevation changes, something banned in that event.
Togisala later explained on the Good Good Podcast that he had unknowingly left the slope mode on during the first hole but switched it off immediately after learning it was not allowed. "I’ll die on this hill," he said firmly. “The slope was off after that.”
The question remains: when a small mistake turns into a viral controversy, are we holding influencers to impossible standards—or is accountability part of the game? What do you think—was this harmless confusion or something more deliberate? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the debate.
