TEEING OFF
Golf beauty weathers criticism over disastrous pro debut
Instagram phenomenon Paige Spiranac has responded to critics following a difficult first outing as she made her professional golfing debut at the Dubai Ladies Masters.
The golfing beauty, who has more than 480,000 Instagram followers despite only making her professional debut this week, was forced to defend herself against claims she was only given a spot in the tournament’s 108person field because of her stunning looks.
The 22yearold from Monument, Colo., missed the cut after shooting 12over in the first two rounds of the tournament. Spiranac finished only three strokes better than the worst score in the tournament, in which defending champion Shanshan Feng had a twostroke lead.
Spiranac shot to international fame earlier this year after her collection of glamorous social media photos saw her declared “the hottest female athlete on Earth” by a number of sports websites.
After struggling to an openinground 77 in Dubai, she said she understood her critics’ doubts.
“I understand where they are coming from,” said Spi ranac, who played her college golf at San Diego State.
“I mean, I’ve played golf and have had good results, but when you look at my game compared to the top players in the world, I’m not in the same league. But I wish they could see that I’m working as hard as I can. I may make it, I may not make it. But I’m just trying to focus on what I need to do to get to the next level and trying not to focus on what they say.”
She told dubailadiesmasters.com she was just relieved to have the whole day behind her.
“I am so glad to have it out of the way,” she said after the first round. “I wouldn’t say I was dreading this, but certainly was nervous and anxious thinking about this for the last couple of months. Overall, it was a pretty good round except for the shot on the last hole where I hit into the water. Yes, I am pretty happy with how it went for my first round and considering how nervous I was.”
When asked if she had any message to convey to her huge fanbase, Spiranac said: “Please be nice to me.”
The former gymnast refuses to apologize for capitalizing on her social media fame and admits it is one of the reasons she was invited to play this week.
“I’m very grateful to be here because of social media, I wouldn’t be here without it,” she said. “I never really sought this invite out — it just came to me. I’m very fortunate that I have all these followers and that they like watching me and seeing what I do. … It’s given me a gateway to help my profes sional golf career, and that’s really what I want to do, is just play golf, because I love it so much.
“From here I’ll play the first stage of qualifying school when it comes up again. I definitely want to earn my way on to Tour because I need more experience and more rounds under my belt before I do anything else.”
Fourtime LPGA major championship winner Laura Davies said she has heard rumblings about Spiranac’s presence, but is content to give the debutante time to find her feet on the pro tour.
“I don’t know her from a bar of soap,” Davies said. “Everyone needs a chance and if she’s a good player, then I think it’s great she’s here, but if she’s here for any other reason than she’s a great golfer, then it’s a little bit pointless.”