Remember Lucas Glover’s “swamp a**” from his 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship win? Well, most Paige Spiranac fans wouldn’t forget.
She had, back then, advocated for the PGA Tour pros to wear shorts, especially in the heat.
Though her idea wasn’t taken up, this was an example of the golf diva’s never-ending fight to bring about change in the sport. And it appears she won’t be stopping anytime soon either.
The ‘Golf Queen’ has catapulted to popularity with over four million followers on Instagram, more than what golf icon Tiger Woods has on the platform.
Having retired from the sport in 2016, Spiranac found a new career for herself as a golf influencer
and soon expanded her horizons. Since then she has become a voice for change within the golf industry.
The 31-year-old conducted a Q&A session with her fans on Instagram on Wednesday.
During the session, a fan asked her, “What’s the one thing that you would change about the game?” Spiranac replied, “I wish there would be more acceptance of new ideas and diversity within the game,” as she shared a story on her Instagram handle.
Golf, as a sport, is seeped into tradition, be it the format or the attire for the players. Although the game has evolved since its modern day origins in the 15th century, a lot is still left to be desired. Addressing this Spiranac said, “Because golf is built on tradition, and that’s something a lot of us really love, including myself that we tend to get stuck in our own ways, and when something new happens or a new idea, we tend to be very pessimistic about it and I think ultimately that is hurting the game.”
She further added, “Golf as a whole is so worried about trying new things, that it’s just making it worse and we’re not seeing new people get into the game.” Spiranac’s claims aren’t unfounded.
The PGA Tour has been suffering in TV ratings and viewership for some time. The final round of the Masters had a viewership of 9.58 million, down about 20 percent from 2023. Apart from the two COVID-affected Masters in 2021 and 2022, it was the lowest viewership for the competition since 1993.
The Players Championship saw 3.5 million viewers tune in to see Scottie Scheffler win, down from 4.1 million the year before. Many other PGA Tour events have suffered from a similar decline in audience. On top of it, the uncertainty between the Tour and LIV Golf has further left fans disengaged from the product. Not only the PGA Tour is struggling to engage new audiences, it is struggling to keep hold of the existing ones.
Spiranac, also mentioned that such an effect is also reinforced by the existence of yet another stereotype of how “golf is old and stuffy and not welcoming.” She proposed some possible changes that could be brought into the sport, “Part of that is actually true and I wish we could show the fun side of it which is a different alternative broadcasting stream or there’s just so many ideas that I have that I wish would be more widely accepted.”
The golf influencer has been vocal about the traditionalist approach even before as well. In 2017, when LPGA rolled out a new strict dress code, she spoke out. The new regulations included a ban on plunging necklines, wearing leggings as pants and joggers. Anybody found in violation of this code was liable to a fine of $1,000.
Spiranac said the regulations stifled the growth of the women’s game and labeled LPGA’s dress code as the “outdated stereotypes about the connection between what a woman wears and her morals.”
Spiranac has often said that she strives to help the sport grow and reach newer audiences. Well, if the PGA Tour had lent an ear to the golfing influencer, then the likes of Glover wouldn’t have had to struggle that much with the heat in Memphis.
Paige Spiranac’s ‘short’ advice to the PGA Tour
Last year, during the 3rd round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship a video surfaced of Jordan Spieth wiping his face with a cold, wet towel. The next day, Glover also joined in the struggle as he was spotted wearing sweaty pants, which showcased the effect of the heat sticking to him like a design of his clothing. As all of this went down, Spiranac, as usual, didn’t keep quiet.
“The men on the PGA Tour should absolutely be able to wear shorts” declared the golf diva, “and the rule needs to change right now.” She then appointed out the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship winner’s case and added, “Lucas Glover won for the second week in a row in a hot and humid Memphis. He also won for the worst documented case of swamp a** that we have ever seen.”
In 2022, she welcomed LIV Golf’s decision to allow male golfers to wear shorts on the greens and hoped the PGA Tour would follow suit.
While many in the community would agree with Spiranac, there are still a lot of people who prefer the traditional side of things. Surprisingly, many of them include the various athletes in the sport as well. The influencer and her fans will have to wait some more to see their dreams become a reality!
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Source: USA Today
