Biography - Paige Spiranac

Who is Paige Spiranac?

Paige Spiranac is a golfer, social media influencer by profession, and American by nationality. She played college golf and went on to play professional golf. Following her retirement from golf in December 2016, she has turned to social media where she posts trick-shot videos.

Paige Spiranac – Age, Parents, Siblings

Paige Spiranac was born on March 26, 1993, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, USA. She was born Paige Renee Spiranac to her father Dan Spiranac, a member of the 1976 Pittsburgh Panthers national championship college football team, and her mother Annette Spiranac, a professional ballerina. 

Her parents raised her in Monument, Colorado alongside her sibling, older sister Lexie Spiranac, who received a college athletic scholarship and competed on Stanford University's track team.

Childhood

Coming from an athletic family, she too practiced gymnastics with dreams of competing in the Olympics. Her talent in gymnastics granted her to skip from level six to Elite. She also earned an invitation from Karolyi Ranch, the USA Gymnastics National Team Training Center at Karolyi Ranch. However, her career in gymnastics was short-lived as she shifted towards golf due to a twice-broken kneecap, at the age of 12.

Education, Ethnicity

As Paige Spiranac was bullied by her fellow gymnasts due to her hair condition, she was more drawn toward golf. She was homeschooled so that she would have time to train. Spiranac was educated at the University of Arizona with a golf scholarship and later at San Diego State University.

Her ethnicity is Croatian.

Paige Spiranac – Boyfriend, Husband, Children, Divorce

Spiranac began a relationship with former minor league baseball player Steven Tinoco. They got engaged in December 2016 and after years of dating, married in 2018. Her husband is a personal trainer. They do not have any children yet. However, in 2018, it was reported that the pair had divorced in 2020.

She is currently believed to be single.

Paige Spiranac – Career

Amateur career

Including the 2010 CWGA Junior Stroke Play, Spiranac was the winner of five tournaments on Colorado's junior golf circuit. At the University of Arizona, she played for the Wildcats during their golf season in her freshman year (2011-2012). After transferring to San Diego State University for the 2012 to 2013 season, she finished fifth place at the Cal Classic and nineteenth at the NCAA Central Regional Championships.

In her junior season (2013-2014) season, she received Second-Team All-Mountain West Honors and top ten finish at the Mountain West Championship while in her senior season, Paige Spiranac was named the Aztecs' first Mountain West Conference Championship in school history. She won the July 2015 100th Colorado Women's Golf Association Match Play Championship at Raccoon Creek Golf Course.

Professional days

After rising to fame on social media in 2015, she competed in the Ladies European Tour (LET) in July 2016, finishing in 58th place. She went on to compete in the Cactus Tour at the Las Colinas Club, Scottsdale's Orange Tree Country Club, Stallion Mountain, Aliante Golf Club, Walnut Creek, CoBank Colorado Women's Open, 2016 Arizona Women's, etc.

She competed in the LPGA Qualifying Tournament in August 2016 but did not make it. Although Spiranac was again invited to play in Dubai in December 2016, she missed the cut once again. Throughout the competitions, Paige Spiranac won $100 to $8,010 in prize money.

She eventually retired from professional golf to focus on growing her social media presence and on growing her brand. 

Business, Media

A Total Frat Move’s 2015 article encouraged people to check Spiranac out online gave her a new career path. In just two days, her Instagram followers increased from under 10k to over 100k. As of December 2020, she has over 3 million followers on Instagram.

In 2017, Paige Spiranac was signed with Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG). The contract explores her huge social media influence to advertise its golf clubs as well as via TV ads. The same year she became an ambassador for an international non-profit organization that supports victims of cyberbullying and online hate campaigns – Cybersmile. Spiranac, in 2017, was selected as a brand ambassador for 18Birdies and signed deals with Mizzen + Main and Philip Stein Watches. 

She has also been featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition and Golf Digest (May 2016). Since December 2018, she has been writing a monthly column for Golf Magazine.

In February 2020, her podcast Playing-A-Round with Paige Renee was started.

Paige Spiranac – Controversy, Bullying

Spiranac’s appearance on the cover of Golf Digest raised a lot of questions and brought criticism. She had missed the cut at her then-only professional event and had never finished in the top 300 of the NCAA ranking, raising the question of what she brings to golf as well as her accomplishments in professional golf. 

Sarah Spain, ESPN’s sports commentator argued that Paige Spiranac was featured on the said magazine cover solely due to her appearance and the type of clothes she wore. Spiranac in response has shared that the criticisms of mainly "sexualizing women's golf" have hurt her and in turn, has sought to promote her anti-bullying campaign. She has also used fame and criticism to fight for a woman's right to feel comfortable in her own skin. 

After the LPGA tour restricting plunging necklines, leggings, and short skirts for women in July 2017, it was slammed for 'slut-shaming' its own players with the introduction of a stricter dress code. Spiranac too spoke against the dress code saying “The Progression of Women's Golf Is Plunging Further than Our Necklines" in a Fortune magazine op-ed piece.

Paige Spiranac – Net Worth, Salary

The net worth of Spiranac is estimated to be around $1 million while the figure on her annual salary is under review.

Paige Spiranac – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

Since her rise to fame on social media in 2015, Paige Spiranac has gained millions of followers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. She has over 174K subscribers on her YouTube channel.