Paige Spiranac is no stranger to criticism, but nothing hit her harder than the moment a cheating accusation brought her to tears. Known for clapping back at trolls and owning her persona in golf’s online battleground, she suddenly found herself at the center of a rules controversy during the Internet Invitational, a moment that spread quickly, sparked debate, and caught even her longtime followers off guard.

Over the last few years, Spiranac has become a lightning rod in golf culture, part influencer, part rules-stickler, and part target. She draws massive engagement whenever she posts, but that also means any misstep, real or perceived, gets amplified. Barstool even ran a blog defending her after this latest drama, arguing that she’d been “bullied into tears” by trolls over the $1 million event, which shows how quickly the narrative can spiral once her name is attached to controversy.

The final episode of the pre-recorded Internet Invitational was uploaded on its official YouTube channel. A few hours later, Barstool Sports uploaded an X post featuring a short clip from the video. The text read, “There seems to be a rules discrepancy over this lie at the @InternetInvite.”

It’s not a Dave Portnoy event unless it involves controversy. And the Internet Invitation has had many of them. One of the recent ones came in the final and involved a rules discrepancy. In the final, Brad Dalke, Francis Ellis, and Cody ‘Beef’ Franke took on Paige Spiranac, Frankie Borelli, and Malosi Togisala. During this round, golfers at the Internet Invitational accused Paige Spiranac of cheating.

What made Finch’s observation so explosive is that it goes straight to the heart of Rule 8.1 of the Rules of Golf. Under 8.1a and its interpretations, a player isn’t allowed to improve the “conditions affecting the stroke” that includes the lie, stance area, swing area, or line of play by moving, bending, or pressing down growing grass. There is some leeway when you’re fairly searching for a ball in the rough, but once the ball is found, deliberately trampling down thick fescue to create a cleaner hit crosses into forbidden territory.

Togisala played an incredible escape from the fescue. Everyone was praising his shot. But amidst all that, Peter Finch pointed out that Spiranac trampled down some grass to improve the lie for teammate Togisala. Although her team lost the round, organizers and other golfers confronted her about her actions.

“I thought you could do that. I didn’t realize you couldn’t do that,” Spiranac said. To this, Ellis asked in amazement, “Improve the lie?” But Spiranac cleared that she didn’t think she improved the lie. “I didn’t think I improved. I didn’t move the ball,” she said.

Ellis explained that she can’t stomp around in long grass. And it is true. Under rule 8.1 of golf, no one can “move, bend, or break any growing or attached natural object.” When Ellis was explaining this, Paige Spiranac started crying. Now in tears, Spiranac said that “I wasn’t trying to cheat. I would never do that.” She further explained that “I don’t want people to think that I would try to cheat.”

Spiranac did try to cheat, but it was not this time. It was back when she was on the amateur circuit. She admitted bending the rules on Spiranac’s Playing-A-Round podcast. “It was one of my very first tournaments, I ended up hitting a ball in the water but I was on a very steep slope. I just ended up dropping another ball and saying I found it,” Spiranac said. However, her mom found out that she started the round with 6 balls and only had 5 in her bag. “She just gave me this look and she said, ‘if you ever do that again, if I ever catch you cheating, you will never play golf ever again.'”

After this, Paige Spiranac learned her lesson. And she says that she didn’t cheat ever after that. But she was not the only one accused of cheating in the final round. Her partner, Malosi Togisala, faced a similar controversy.

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Malosi Togisala is accused of using a rangefinder

Malosi Togisala faced serious cheating allegations during the Internet Invitational related to his use of a rangefinder. Specifically, other golfers accused him of using the “slope” function on his rangefinder. The function calculates adjusted distances based on the slope of the terrain. Organizers announced that the use of this feature is illegal right at the beginning of the tournament.

Under modern Rules of Golf, distance-measuring devices are generally allowed, but there’s a big asterisk. Rule 4.3a lets players use rangefinders to get yardages, yet features that measure elevation changes or provide “play-like” adjusted distance, exactly what slope mode does, are still banned in most competitions. Committees can also add a Local Rule outright prohibiting certain functions. In other words, it’s legal to own a slope-capable device, but actually using that function in competition is a rules breach if it’s been outlawed, which is why the Internet Invitational spelled it out before the first tee shot.

Reports also noted that Togisala had faced similar whispers in a previous round and that he was seen fidgeting with his rangefinder on cart cam footage just before Dave Portnoy and others moved in to inspect it. Togisala swore, “Hand to God, I was not using the slope,” but several fellow influencers left convinced the footage was “pretty cut and dry,” even as no formal penalty was assessed.

The Internet Invitational ended with debates, emotions, and two players defending their integrity, but the tone shifted when news of Cody “Beef” Franke’s sudden passing surfaced. His win in the finale now stands as a bittersweet final memory, adding a sobering layer to an event defined by noise and controversy. In the end, the drama surrounding Spiranac and Togisala fades next to the reminder that golf’s fiercest moments still happen far beyond the scorecard.