Some of the biggest golf influencers around find themselves in a heated Twitter spat over, who else, Tiger Woods.
It all started earlier this week when Amanda Rose, a golf analyst for The Action Network who also co-hosts the “Playing A Round” podcast with Paige Renee Spiranac, tweeted in support of Tiger Woods, who had been inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame on Wednesday with a special introduction by his daughter Sam.
“Tiger Woods might be the ultimate girl dad. Even greater than his golf legacy may be the father he is,” Rose tweeted on Tuesday. “Very cool to hear his daughter will introduce him at his World Golf HOF induction ceremony.”
Soon after, however, professional golfer Hailey Rae Ostrom responded, saying that it’s hard for her to square that notion with the events of 2009 when Woods’ life blew up over revelations of infidelity in his marriage.
“Ehhh I have a bit higher expectations for a “great Girl Dad,” wrote Ostron. “Love Tiger today but we can’t disregard 2009. I believe a Girl Dad should be a walking example of the kind of man their daughter deserves. My own dad set the bar pretty high. Tiger is not in that same category.”
Rose responded by referencing Ostrom’s pinned tweet, which included a mention of sex in an attempt to frame the response as hypocritical.
“‘Sex is cool and all’ isn’t that the pinned tweet on ur profile I’ve never seen before? Ehh I have a bit higher expectations for someone who is being so judgy,” Rose responded.
And that’s when Spiranac, who has half a million Twitter followers, entered the chat.
“Her dad said I was a bad role model and put me down for how I built my business,” Paige tweeted, referencing Mark Ostrom. “I’ve had them both blocked for things that they have said about me. It’s easy to pass judgment but it shows great character to learn from mistakes. Calling someone you don’t know a bad parent is low.”
Ostrom denied the allegations in a response.
“It’s easier to play victim. To say me and my dad (?) were mean. But in reality, you and I had a SIMPLE difference of opinion regarding feminism (which is laughable),” Ostrom tweeted. “You blocked me after a private conversation in dms. I never called you a name. Never put you down.”
Spiranac was undeterred, however.
“No victim, don’t deal with fake,” Spiranac replied. “Your dad sent me a DM on IG. This has nothing to do with the conversation we had but the comments you have made behind my back. You told Amanda women shouldn’t put other women down but you seem to have a lot to say about me to other people.”
Ostrom initially responded with a request to see the direct message from her father but then followed up once more with an attempt to squash the feud and apologize for misunderstandings.
“I know that I sent you a dm because you thought a comment I made on someone’s post was about you,” Ostrom wrote. “So I sent you a dm to let you know, hey, it wasn’t about you…no hard feelings. Sorry if it came off that way.
“At the end of the day this is something that happened in 2018/19. I know you were offended by a comment I made, regardless if it were about you or not. I genuinely apologize for offending you. We have the same overall goal in this sport and that is to grow the game.”
That appeared to put an end to things, for the moment at least. Over on Instagram, Rose posted on Wednesday to say that next week’s episode of their podcast would be “very interesting,” to which Spiranac commented by saying “We should have a section called tea time where we just gossip since we are “mean girls” now.”
Another day in the world of golf influencing.
[Amanda Rose, Paige Spiranac, Hailey Rae Ostrom, NY Post]