As one of the most well-known golf influencers on the Internet, Paige Spiranac has seen many challengers to her throne come and go.
But the latest might have a chance of taking the crown from the blonde bomber.
Spiranac rose to fame after closing the book on a potential career as a pro golfer following some success on the collegiate circuit.
She has been a polarizing figure in golf, with her often-revealing outfits on the course — usually featuring short skirts and low-cut tops — drawing the ire of traditionalist backs of the game.
Charis appears to be following a similar playbook to the one that Spiranac laid out, with the 21-year-old showcasing her good looks alongside a growing golf game.
While Spiranac was a champion golfer at San Diego State and played on the Cactus Tour before falling short of qualifying for the LPGA, Charis doesn’t boast that type of on-course experience. She is, however, working with a professional swing coach to up her game and recently posted a clip of herself sinking her first career hole-in-one.
Although Spiranac’s game may be well ahead of Charis, there is one category in which they are very close rivals: Follower counts.
Charis has amassed 3.7 million followers on Instagram and another 3 million on TikTok. Spiranac boasts 4 million on Instagram while her 1.6 million on TikTok lags well behind Charis. Both influencers also have more than 1 million followers on X.
While they may be competing with each other, both women blow away the world’s top golfers in terms of online followings.
The only golfer that comes close to either woman is Tiger Woods, who has 3.5 million followers on Instagram while Rory McIlroy has 2.7 million followers and Bryson DeChambeau has 2.2 million.
Funnily enough, Charis said it was never her dream to become a golfer and she simply fell into the sport during the COVID pandemic.
Charis had been a rower, but with the world shutting down due to COVID restrictions and golf being among the first sports to emerge from lockdown, the California native took to the driving range and then she was off and swinging.
“I like the edginess of having your booty and body shape showing in the golf swing, but when I first got into it, I wasn’t trying to be a golfer,” Charis told Golf Monthly last year.
Unlike Spiranac, though, Charis is more about showing off her outfits than sharing golf tips.
“It was more about trying to get views and be in the creator’s space. I let social media dictate what I’m wearing — this outfit does well, or this outfit is not doing as well,” she told the outlet.
That doesn’t mean she isn’t trying to grow her game – with the help of her coach and hitting the course 4-5 times a week, her handicap has been whittled down to 5.
Like Spiranac, Charis receives her share of hate online for bringing her brand of sexuality to the game of golf.
“I see the hate comments, people block me and it makes me really sad,” she said. “It upsets me more when they’re talking about my golf. ‘She’s just a pretty body, nobody cares.’
“You can’t really hate someone who’s trying to get better. So, I guess how I deal with the hate is to get better, so I take all my rage out on the range.”
Whether Charis poses a real challenge to Spiranac remains to be seen, with the likes of Lilia Schneider, Karin Hart and Hailey Rae Ostrom having fallen by the wayside.
But we’re sure that there’s plenty of space online for both to carve out their followings.
And, perhaps one day, we’ll see the two battle it out on the golf course to determine the true queen of golf influencers.