Caitlin Clark draws a big crowd for an LPGA pro-am in Florida

BELLEAIR, Fla. – Caitlin Clark brought her golf game and plenty of excitement to the LPGA Tour on Wednesday as the basketball star played in a pro-am that drew a larger crowd than the tour often gets because of its tournament rounds.

Clark played nine holes with Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player in women’s golf who is competing for the first time in nearly two months after suffering a minor neck injury. She played the back nine at Pelican Golf Club with Annika Sorenstam, host of a tournament called The Annika.

During a brief interview with Golf Channel, the WNBA rookie of the year was asked if she picked up any tips from Korda.

“I watched and she’s great,” Clark said. “But golf is hard.”

The gallery stood behind the ropes to watch Clark, and she signed autographs for hundreds of fans when the pro-am was over.

Clark has an endorsement deal planned with Indiana-based Gainbridge, the presenting sponsor of the LPGA’s penultimate tournament. She also participated in a women’s leadership summit hosted by Gainbridge.

“It can only help grow women’s golf,” Brittany Lincicome said Tuesday as she brought a basketball for Clark to sign for her daughters.

Korda comes from a top sports family. Her older sister, Jessica, played in the Solheim Cup and younger brother Sebastian is ranked No. 23 in men’s tennis. Their father, Petr Korda, won the 1998 Australian Open in tennis.

She said she messaged Clark on Instagram, but nothing was better than spending time on the ropes.

“To see the impact she has on people, bringing people here, and to see how great an influence she is just in sports, it was really cool to see firsthand today,” Korda said.

Clark said she likes to get away to play golf — she played in the John Deere Classic pro-am on the PGA Tour last summer — and she contributed one putt from about 3-point range.

“It was great to see how relaxed she was,” Korda said. “Obviously, with the media attention she’s gotten over the last year and a half to two years, you can see how comfortable she is playing in front of a bigger audience. And she just really enjoyed it. see ya.”

“She is definitely very talented. She took the ball very cleanly. She lost a few shots to the right, but I asked her how many times a week she plays and I think with the amount of commitments she has, she probably goes to the golf course 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 thinks her neck injury, which kept her from Asian swing, could be related.

Korda has already been named LPGA Player of the Year for the first time. She leads the Race to CME Globe but still needs to win the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship next week, with the winner getting $4 million.