Golf influencer Paige Spiranac hit out at former PGA Tour winner Nate Lashley for what she called ‘sexist’ criticism of her take on slow play at the Masters.
In one of her viral social media posts, Spiranac said she’d “seen paint dry faster than that round was finished” when hitting out at slow play during the final round of this year’s Masters.
Jon Rahm eventually won at Augusta but the slow play that’s consuming golf at the moment was a big talking point – with Spiranac not the only one within the sport to call for it to be sorted out.
"They should be penalized,” Spiranac said. “Slow play is unsportsmanlike and a form of cheating, I don't understand how this is not fixed yet.”
40 seconds is a long time pic.twitter.com/BG0h6acRB8April 18, 2023
In response to her video, world No. 210 Lashley questioned her credentials for being able to criticised PGA Tour players for their pace of play.
“I don’t like slow play at all but these courses are very difficult and there is a lot on the line,” Lashley posted in response.
“If @PaigeSpiranac would have played professionally at a higher level she would understand but I don’t think most people are watching these videos to see what she has to say.”
It was the closing part of the post that irked Spiranac, who addressed the issue in her podcast ‘Playing a Round with Paige’ saying Lashley’s comments has sexist overtones.
“So for Nate Lashley to be honestly quite sexist about it and to come after me when this was not that hot of a take, everyone is in agreement that slow play needs to be fixed, so it's not okay... and Nate Lashley, probably a slow player. He's probably the problem."
And Spiranac then took to Twitter to continue the argument, in a post that has had more than 1.2m views, saying: "I said Nate's tweet was sexist on my podcast which is now causing a stir on twitter lol.
"Yes, I use my sex appeal to my advantage but that doesn't invalidate my opinion. I share a similar stance on slow play as many top pros as well as many in golf media but he only decided to call me out and belittle my achievements in the process.
“It's not about me showing my cleavage and getting upset when I'm called out by it. I'm upfront about my brand.”
Spiranac is only one of many to criticse slow play on the PGA Tour, and the problem doesn’t look like going away any time soon.
I said Nate’s tweet was sexist on my podcast which is now causing a stir on twitter lol. Yes, I use my sex appeal to my advantage but that doesn’t invalidate my opinion. I share a similar stance on slow play as many top pros as well as many in golf media but he only decided to… https://t.co/J6IGarEyKBApril 27, 2023
