Tearful Paige too harsh on herself after missing cut in Dubai

Paige Spiranac of the United States watches the ball after the strike on the first fairway during the round one of the Dubai Ladies Masters golf tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Nobody likes to see a woman cry. But that's the situation Paige Spiranac found herself in after her first foray in the world of professional golf.
The gorgeous American, who was a wreck going into the first round, before holding it all together to shoot a 77, followed that up with a miserable 79 on Thursday, the second day of the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters.
With a 12-over 156, Paige missed the cut and, with it, her brief appearance at the tournament. And Paige couldn't hold back the tears and is now contemplating giving up golf.
Having heard LPGA Hall of Famer Laura Davies say 'I don't know her from a bar of soap,' on Paige's appearance in the tournament, the Arizona native said that a bar of soap could have played better.
"I think a bar of soap could have played better. It was just a tough week for me, a lot of stress. I'm sorry, it's just been a long week (crying)," Paige said after her round.
Paige, the darling of the social media with more than 50,000 Twitter and half a million Instagram followers, was given a tournament invite. But she was keen on proving to the world that she was here for her golfing prowess rather than her social media skills.
"It was a great learning experience. I learned a lot this week and I grew a lot as a person. I'm going to take a lot from it. I'm upset because it's been a lot of stress and a lot of pressure, a lot of it self-induced. I was invited here and I wanted to prove that it was for other reasons than just my social media. This isn't how I play or how I've been playing. So it's frustrating and very disappointing," she said.
But the way things have gone, Paige is thinking of taking a rain check on her golfing future and is also going to take a short sabbatical from social media.
"At the moment, clubs are going in the water. I think I'm going to go back home and kind of re-evaluate everything and see if golf is still in my future or not," said Paige.
"It took a lot to come out here and go to a new country for the first time and play my first professional event with all of these people just looking at me and staring at me and wondering how I was going to do. I'm definitely going to not look at my phone for a while. Probably take a break from social media, step away and kind of re-evaluate everything," she added.
All the attention and the scrutiny gets to you and, perhaps, Paige has probably been too hard and harsh on herself. She is only 22 and has so much ahead of her.
That first tournament is out of the way and maybe, we will see more of her on the Tour.
james@khaleejtimes.com