Golf influencer Paige Spiranac has hit out at those who criticise her content and revealed the one regret in her career.
Spiranac, who only turned 30 years old back in March, called time on her professional golf career after just one year in the game. The American, who attended the University of Arizona and San Diego State, has since built up a sizeable social media following after turning her attention towards a career in media.
After leaving the pro tour, Spiranac has amassed 3.7 million Instagram followers, 1.5 million on TikTok and another 879,000 on Twitter. However, this has resulted in her receiving unpleasant comments on social media.
Having spent several years in the public eye, Spiranac is no stranger to the comments she receives. But now the 30-year-old has hit back at critics, and explains the reasons why she thinks she gets targeted.
"What I produce is not that provocative," Spiranac told Golf Digest. “If my body makes someone uncomfortable, that’s not my problem. I’m not doing anything illegal. I’m not causing harm.
"Maybe it is because I come off as every guy’s fantasy—a girl that loves golf and wears a bikini—but I see myself as a girl’s girl. I’m coming from an authentic place."
Spiranac also opened up on how playing professional golf affected her well-being. After an invite to a pro event as part of the Ladies European Tour in Dubai in 2015, it was here where Spiranac explains how outside noise affected her.
"From the start, it was a massive controversy I was there," said Spiranac. "There were pros, legends of the game, discussing if I belonged.
“People were taking bets about whether I would come in last. I’m this kid who has no experience, no media training. I completely bombed, publicly cried about it. It was a s*** show."
Spiranac opened up further on how playing professional golf affected her, including her career. In her "Playing A Round" podcast, she went on to reveal that her one regret is she wishes she could have played on the LPGA Tour.
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"If I had the choice to be doing what I’m doing to play on the LPGA Tour, I would probably pick the LPGA Tour because that was just a goal that I’ve always wanted to achieve and it was a dream of mine — and I wish I could’ve checked that off before I went over into doing media work full time," Spiranac said on her podcast back in March. "But that’s not how life works."
She added: "I was playing really well and then my whole life flipped upside down. I blew up on social media. I didn’t end up going back to be the assistant coach.
“I didn’t even finish my last semester of college. I never got my degree, which is something that’s so crazy and I’ve never talked about that. I was two credits short of getting my degree.
“I then got the invite to go play in Dubai. I blew up there. I did one year of playing golf professionally, and I was just mentally exhausted.
“In golf, you fail more than you succeed, and I was doing that in the public eye. Everyone was telling me, ‘You should quit. You should give up. You’re not good.’
"All of these things, and I was already dealing with these mental issues of years and years and years of trying so hard and coming up short, and I just broke. I honestly cracked. I broke and I just stopped. I said, ‘Maybe I’ll go back,’ and I’ve never gone back to try and play golf professionally again."