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Golf influencer Paige Spiranac has built up one of the most successful and largest followings on social media, even as she is not playing on a professional tour.
However, with the amount of success she has had comes a ton of online scrutiny. Specifically, she has been scrutinized for how she presents herself on social media as she promotes the sport that she loves.
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Paige Spiranac waves to the crowd after throwing out a first pitch prior to the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field in Milwaukee on June 16, 2023. (Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports)
In a question-and-answer session on her Instagram Stories on Tuesday, Spiranac was asked about the "hate" she receives online and how she deals with it.
"I think I’m just desensitized to it because I’ve been doing it for such a long time now that I just don’t feel like people are all that mean even when they try to say mean things to me," she said. "I think it’s funny for the most part."
Spiranac explained that she feels a lot of people have "warmed up" to her over the years and that starting in a position where people were mean to her was easier than coming out of the gate loved.
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Paige Spiranac watches her shot onto the No. 2 green during the 2023 Kaulig Companies Championship Pro-Am at Firestone Country Club on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 in Akron, Ohio. (Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK)
"Also, I was really hated when I started doing this and over the year people have warmed up to me. And so, it’s actually been a lot easier," she said. "I’ve seen people who have come online, and they are loved from the start and then something happens, and they have to deal with hate for the first time, and it’s much, much harder on them.
"It’s much easier to come in hated and have people like slowly start to like you over time compared to being loved and then dealing with hate for the first time. It takes a much bigger toll on your mental health. And so, in a weird way, I guess, I’m lucky over years people just started to not hate me as much."
She also briefly talked about how she initially became a big public figure.
Paige Spiranac watches her teammates putt on the No. 6 green during the 2023 Kaulig Companies Championship Pro-Am at Firestone Country Club on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 in Akron, Ohio. (Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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"A big debate if it’s actually about the golf or not," Spiranac started. "But how it all started was crazy. I was in college. Someone wrote an article about me. The article ended up going viral. I went from like having 500 followers to 100,000 followers overnight. And, the rest is history."
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