Geno Auriemma slams Caitlin Clark’s golf ambitions: ‘It’s disrespectful to the LPGA’
Auriemma appeared to make some bold comments, but there are suggestions the video is not real
Caitlin Clark has been hit with criticism for her golfing exploits after she joked about becoming a ‘professional golfer’.
When asked about her off-season plans following the Indiana Fever’s WNBA playoff elimination, Clark joked: “I’ll become a professional golfer.”
Recently, Clark took lessons from Martha Foyer Faulconer to compete in the LPGA Pro-Am, and this week she appeared on the green alongside Nelly Korda and Annika Sorenstam.
But after a video emerged of Clark playing, another video appeared online of UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma criticizing her.
He said in the video: “If you are a basketball player, but jst a recreational golfer, like Caitlin is… the delusional fan base that follows her disrespects the LPGA golfers by thinking she could go into this tournament and do anything.
“There are actually fans that think she can make birdies, or even pars. These people are so disrespectful and so unknowledgeable and so stupid that it gives women’s golf a bad name. So the kid is set up for failure right from the beginning,”
He added: “She’s got the wrong skill set to handle the physicality of the LPGA. She doesn’t have the short game, the distance, the accuracy. This kid’s in for a rude awakening and when they invite her to the ninth hole at 9 tonight, she and that delusional fan base will get everything that’s coming to them.”
Questions over the video
According to some online, the video may be AI generated, with the footage appearing to be heavily doctored. Many of the comments Auriemma made appear to match his previous statements from June on the Dan Patrick Show. There are also big glitches in the video that suggest it may not be real.
Auriemma had talked about Clark‘s ‘delusional fans’ during his appearance on Dan Patrick, and it seems the same video has been doctored to make it look like he is talking about golf.
On the green itself, Clark had her miscues, but she also hit a long putt on the fifth and holed a par.
“She was just really enjoying it. You can tell like she is definitely very talented. She was picking the ball really clean off, she was losing a couple of shots to the right,” said Korda of Clark’s performance.
Meanwhile, Clark makes no bones about the fact she is still inexperienced in the spot, saying recently of her abilities: “I’m strong, and I can hit it. It just usually doesn’t go straight.”
