Paige Spiranac breaks her silence over 'cheating' claims at Barstool's $1m influencer golf tournament: 'Tens of thousands of death threats'

Golf influencer Paige Spiranac is opening up after receiving backlash for improving her playing partner's lie during a Barstool Sports-sponsored golf tournament.

Spiranac was competing in the 'Internet Invitational' - an event where golf content creators and social media stars faced off against each other.

During that event, Spiranac was seen stamping down on some long grass in front of the ball of her playing partner, Malosi Togisala, which was seen by other competitors and pointed out to her in real time.

Spiranac had taken a break from her social media for a while, but broke her silence on Tuesday with multiple Instagram stories to address the controversy.

In one post, she claims to have received 'tens of thousands of death threats' due to her actions.

'The last week and a half is probably the worst hate I've ever received in the ten years of me doing this,' Spiranac said.

'I'm talking tens of thousands of death threats, people telling me to kill myself, the most vile, horrendous stuff you could ever say to an individual, that's been in my DMs to the point where we were discussing me having to potentially get a restraining order. I mean, it's serious stuff. It's not easy, and it hasn't been easy.'

Spiranac says she took some time off social media from her millions and millions of followers in order to protect her mental health.

'I know people are wondering why I haven't posted or why I haven't talked about it, I just needed to remove myself for my mental health,' she said.

'One thing that I really struggle with is wanting to be liked and accepted, and I don't want anyone to ever dislike me, and I always try to do everything I can to have people like me, and so, it's just hard for me as a person with how I process things and then obviously the situation has not been easy either, but luckily, having a good support system, family around and just trying to stay distracted.'

During the event, after Spiranac had stamped down the grass in front of her, the women's golfer's opponents confronted her.

Spiranac then claimed she didn't know her actions were against the rules and she began to break down in tears.

'I am painfully, painfully embarrassed that I did not know this rule,' she said in an Instagram Story. '… I would never intentionally cheat. In all my years of playing golf, I have never been accused of cheating.

'… There were so many cameras on me, to blatantly cheat with that many people around, that many cameras around would be insane. 

'So, I made a mistake, learned now that it was a rules infraction, and I'll never do it again.'

Ultimately, following another cheating scandal involving Togisala, Spiranac's team lost the match on the 18th hole.

The event was taped over the summer before being released over six episodes in October. 

'It's been an interesting week and a half, but I just want to thank everyone for reaching out, asking me how I'm doing, all the support, really means so much to me,' she said.