Caitlin Clark jokes with spectators after errant tee shot (0:59)
Caitlin Clark jokes with spectators following a tee-off that almost lands in crowd at LPGA pro-am The Annika. (0:59)
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Nov 13, 2024, 01:32 PM ET
BELLEAIR, Fla. — Caitlin Clark introduced her golf sport and a giant buzz to the LPGA Tour on Wednesday when the basketball star performed in a pro-am that attracted a much bigger crowd than the tour usually will get for its event rounds.
Clark performed 9 holes with Nelly Korda, the No. 1 participant in girls’s golf who’s competing for the primary time in almost two months after a minor neck damage. She performed the again 9 at Pelican Golf Membership with Annika Sorenstam, host of a event known as The Annika.
Throughout a quick interview with Golf Channel, the WNBA Rookie of the 12 months was requested whether or not she picked up any ideas from Korda.
“I’ve watched and he or she’s superb,” Clark mentioned. “However golf is difficult.”
The gallery packed behind the ropes to observe Clark, and he or she signed autographs for a whole lot of followers when the pro-am was over.
Clark has an endorsement take care of Indiana-based Gainbridge, the presenting sponsor of the LPGA’s penultimate event on the schedule. She additionally took half in a girls’s management summit hosted by Gainbridge.
“It may solely assist develop girls’s golf,” Brittany Lincicome mentioned Tuesday, bringing a basketball for Clark to signal for her daughters.
Korda comes from a prime sporting household. Her older sister, Jessica, performed within the Solheim Cup, and youthful brother Sebastian is No. 23 within the males’s tennis rankings. Their father, Petr Korda, gained the 1998 Australian Open in tennis.
She mentioned she has messaged with Clark on Instagram, however nothing topped spending time contained in the ropes.
“To see the affect that she has on folks, bringing folks out right here, and to see how superb of an affect she is only for sports activities, was actually cool to see firsthand immediately,” Korda mentioned.
Clark mentioned she likes getting away to play golf — she performed within the John Deere Basic pro-am final summer time on the PGA Tour — and he or she contributed one putt from about 3-point vary.
“It was nice to see how relaxed she was,” Korda mentioned. “Clearly with the media consideration she has gotten in all probability prior to now year-and-a-half, two years, you may see how she’s comfy enjoying in entrance of a bigger crowd. And he or she was simply actually having fun with it. You may inform.
“She’s positively very proficient. She was choosing the ball actually clear. She was shedding a pair photographs to the appropriate, however I requested her what number of instances per week she performs and I believe with the quantity of obligations she has, she in all probability will get to the golf course as soon as per week.”
Korda final performed on the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship on Sept. 22, per week after she led the Individuals to a Solheim Cup victory. She spoke of getting migraines and thinks her neck damage that saved her from the Asian swing might need been associated.
Korda already has clinched LPGA Participant of the 12 months for the primary time. She leads the Race to CME Globe however nonetheless must win the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship subsequent week, which awards $4 million to the winner.
