BELLEAIR, Fla. — Caitlin Clark introduced her golf sport and an enormous buzz to the LPGA Tour on Wednesday when the basketball star performed in a pro-am that attracted an even bigger crowd than the tour usually will get for its event rounds.
Clark performed 9 holes with Nelly Korda, the No. 1 participant in ladies’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 referred to as The Annika.
Throughout a short interview with Golf Channel, the WNBA Rookie of the 12 months was requested whether or not she picked up any suggestions from Korda.
“I’ve watched and she or he’s wonderful,” Clark stated. “However golf is difficult.”
The gallery packed behind the ropes to observe Clark, and she or he signed autographs for a whole lot of followers when the pro-am was over.
Clark has an endorsement cope with Indiana-based Gainbridge, the presenting sponsor of the LPGA’s penultimate event on the schedule. She additionally took half in a ladies’s management summit hosted by Gainbridge.
“It will probably solely assist develop ladies’s golf,” Brittany Lincicome stated Tuesday, bringing a basketball for Clark to signal for her daughters.
Korda comes from a high 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 stated 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 wonderful of an affect she is only for sports activities, was actually cool to see firsthand in the present day,” Korda stated.
Clark stated she likes getting away to play golf — she performed within the John Deere Basic pro-am final summer time on the PGA Tour — and she or he contributed one putt from about 3-point vary.
“It was nice to see how relaxed she was,” Korda stated. “Clearly with the media consideration she has gotten in all probability previously year-and-a-half, two years, you may see how she’s snug enjoying in entrance of a bigger crowd. And he or she was simply actually having fun with it. You may inform.
“She’s undoubtedly very gifted. She was choosing the ball actually clear. She was dropping a pair pictures to the correct, however I requested her what number of occasions every 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 every week.”
Korda final performed on the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship on Sept. 22, every 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 may 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.
