{"id":287775,"date":"2025-11-16T06:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T06:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/287775\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T06:58:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T06:58:14","slug":"golf-star-paige-spiranac-cries-after-being-accused-of-cheating-during-1m-internet-invitational","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/287775\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf star Paige Spiranac cries after being accused of &#8220;cheating&#8221; during $1m Internet Invitational"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Golf influencer Paige Spiranac found herself at the centre of unexpected drama after she was accused of \u201ccheating\u201d during the high-stakes Internet Invitational \u2014 a YouTube tournament backed by Barstool Sports and Bob Does Sports.<\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old star, who boasts over 11 million followers, was competing in the alternate-shot finale when cameras captured a moment that sparked instant controversy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Footage appeared to show <a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/players\/paige-spiranac\" data-entity-type=\"taxonomy_term\" data-entity-uuid=\"08daf141-4b6d-43d9-8ba7-c25769dfd26b\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"Paige Spiranac\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spiranac<\/a> pressing down long grass around teammate Malosi Togisala\u2019s ball in the rough.<\/p>\n<p>With $1 million on the line, tensions were already high \u2014 and the clip quickly became the talking point of the entire event.<\/p>\n<p>The moment that raised eyebrows<\/p>\n<p>After Togisala stepped up to the shot and produced a brilliant strike from the rough, voices around the group started questioning whether the lie had been improved.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Barstool founder Dave Portnoy was quick to comment, joking: \u201cDid Paige put that on a tee for you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Influencer golfer Peter Finch also expressed concern, saying: \u201cPaige has gone ahead of the ball and pressed down the long grass in front. There\u2019s no way he could have hit that shot without that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/paige-12s.png\"   type=\"image\/png\" alt=\"@barstoolsports\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.82\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>@barstoolsports<\/p>\n<p>Players initially dismissed the moment as a \u201cnon-issue,\u201d especially since Spiranac\u2019s team actually lost the hole.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But the murmurs didn\u2019t go away \u2014 they grew.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Paige Spiranac gets emotional<\/p>\n<p>When the issue was raised directly with her, Spiranac visibly struggled with the accusation.<\/p>\n<p>Footage showed her shocked and upset as she tried to explain her actions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought we could do that\u2026 I didn\u2019t realise,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t trying to cheat. I would never do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/paige-cry1.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Paige admitted she didn't know the particular rule\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.02\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Paige admitted she didn&#8217;t know the particular rule<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mixcollage-15-nov-2025-10-51-am-9104.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Spiranac was at the centre of a cheating storm\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.78\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Spiranac was at the centre of a cheating storm<\/p>\n<p>As the pressure intensified, Spiranac became emotional, wiping tears away before walking off the green to compose herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Watch what happened here:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Peter Finch speaks out<\/p>\n<p>Finch then went on to discuss the incident at length on The Rough Cut Golf Podcast, offering his full view of what happened.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Finch&#8217;s comments about the cheating allegations begin at 13 minutes&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Who won the Internet Invitational?<\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t want to know the result, then you can watch it below.<\/p>\n<p>Otherwise scroll down to find out who won&#8230;<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>While Spiranac\u2019s emotional moment grabbed headlines, the $1 million prize ultimately went to the team of Brad Dalke, Francis Ellis and Cody \u201cBeef\u201d Franke, who edged Spiranac\u2019s group in the final showdown.<\/p>\n<p>Team Spiranac was made up of Spiranac, Togisala and Frankie Borrelli.<\/p>\n<p>The victory carries an even more poignant note.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The YouTube golf event was filmed shortly before the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/news\/golf-world-pays-tribute-cody-beef-franke-after-his-sudden-passing\" data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"71a840d3-4d4a-4af8-9087-e4fc39b7b27d\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"Golf world pays tribute to Cody &#039;Beef&#039; Franke after his sudden passing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tragic passing<\/a> of \u201cBeef\u201d Franke, who died in October at just 31 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Portnoy and the Barstool team later paid tribute to their friend and colleague.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Spiranac also shared her condolences, writing: \u201cHeartbreaking news. He was such a kind and good person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>RIP Beef<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Golf influencer Paige Spiranac found herself at the centre of unexpected drama after she was accused of \u201ccheating\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-287775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}