BEL AIR, Fla. — Caitlin Clark brought her golf game and a lot of buzz to the LPGA Tour on Wednesday. That’s when basketball stars compete in pro-am games that draw larger crowds than they often get in the tournament rounds.
Clark played nine holes with No. 1 women’s golf Nelly Korda, who was competing for the first time in about two months after suffering a minor neck injury. She played the back nine at Pelican Golf Club with Annika Sorenstam, the host of a tournament called The Annika.
In a brief interview with Golf Channel, the WNBA Rookie of the Year was asked what advice she got from Korda.
“I watched and she was amazing,” Clark said. “But golf is difficult.”
The gallery lined up to see Clark, and she signed autographs for hundreds of fans at the end of the pro-am.
Clark signed an endorsement deal with Indiana-based Gainbridge, the sponsor of the LPGA’s second tournament on the schedule. She also attended the Women’s Leadership Summit hosted by Gainbridge.
“It’s only going to help grow women’s golf,” Brittany Lincicome said Tuesday as Clark brought basketballs for her daughters to sign.
Korda comes from a top sporting family. Older sister Jessica participated in the Solheim Cup, and younger brother Sebastian is ranked 23rd in men’s tennis. Their father, Petr Korda, won the Australian Open tennis title in 1998.
She messaged Clark on Instagram but said she loves nothing better than spending time in the ropes.
“It was really cool to see it in person today, to see the impact she has on people, to get people here and see what an incredible impact she has on the sport,” Korda said.
Clark said he loves going out to play golf. She played in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic pro-am last summer and made one putt from about 3-point range.
“It was really nice to see how comfortable she was,” Korda said. “If you look at the media attention she’s had over the last year and a half, two years, you can see how comfortable she is playing in front of bigger crowds, and she’s really enjoying it. You can tell.
“She’s obviously very talented. She was picking the ball up really neatly. She was missing a few shots to the right. But I asked her how many times a week she plays and I think the amount of duties she has. “She probably can do that once a week.”
Korda last played at the Kroger Queen City Championship on September 22, a week after leading the Americans to a Solheim Cup victory. She said she had migraines and thought the neck injury that kept her from doing the Asian swing might have had something to do with it.
Korda has already won her first LPGA Player of the Year award. She leads the Race to CME Globe, but must win next week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, which will award $4 million to the winner.
