When 22-yo Paige Spiranac broke down recalling her cyberbullying trauma: "Struggled with a lot of depression"

Paige Spiranac is one of the most well-known golf influencers in the world. Back in 2016, however, Spiranac was much lesser known to the average golf fan.

Before she became one of the most recognizable names in the golf media world, she tried to make it big on the LPGA Tour. In 2016, she attempted to qualify for an LPGA Tour card but couldn't play well enough in the qualifying tournament to earn one.

Ahead of the 2016 Omega Dubai Masters, when Spiranac was still a professional golfer, she opened up about her experiences being cyberbullied. She discussed both how it impacted her and how she responded to it.

"It was really bad. Right after, I took about three weeks off of just not looking at anything. But when you see the comments that people say, they're extremely cruel. They attack not only me but my parents, my family, my friends — and they kind of disgrace golf. No one sees that," Spiranac said at a media event (via VVIP on YouTube).

Paige Spiranac became more emotional as she went on, and started to tear up as she tried to articulate how she felt and how she handled being the target of bullying on social media.

"I think it's really important that people see how much it actually does affect me — the things they call me. I feel like I was raised right by my parents, and for them to attack my parents, attack what I'm doing — it's really difficult," Spiranac added. "I struggled with a lot of depression after it because, as a 22-year-old, you feel like you're not worth anything. You feel worthless. No matter what you do, it's never good enough."

Paige Spiranac's rise after ditching professional golf

Paige Spiranac at the 2024 Tour Championship (via Getty)

Paige Spiranac dropped out attempting to play in the LPGA Tour in 2017 and instead embraced the social media side of golf, which has exploded in popularity in recent years. Spiranac is now one of the most prolific golf influencers in the world, with more than four million followers on Instagram and one million followers on X.

Since ditching professional golf and embracing social media influencing, Spiranac has also done work as a model, being featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. In 2022, she was declared the "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Maxim, becoming the first to attain the spot as a female athlete.

Spiranac has done a wide variety of collaborations with some of the other top golf influencers. After being a critic of Bryson DeChambeau, she recently collaborated with the two-time U.S. Open champion.

In 2024, she also collaborated with Good Good, which is one of the most popular YouTube channels for golf content.