BELLEAIR, Florida — Caitlin Clark brought her golf game and big buzz to the LPGA Tour on Wednesday when the basketball star played in a pro-am that drew a larger crowd than the tour often receives for its tournament rounds.
Clark played nine holes with Nelly Kordathe No. 1 player in women’s golf who is competing for the first time in almost two months after 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 received any advice from Korda.
“I watched and she’s amazing,” Clark said. “But golf is hard.”
The gallery gathered behind the ropes to watch Clark, and she signed autographs for hundreds of fans at the end of the pro-am.
Clark has a sponsorship deal with Indiana-based Gainbridge, the title sponsor of the penultimate LPGA tournament on the schedule. She also participated in a women’s leadership summit hosted by Gainbridge.
“This can only contribute to the development of women’s golf” Brittany Lincicome said Tuesday, bringing a basketball for Clark to sign for his daughters.
Korda comes from a great sports family. His older sister, Jessica, competed in the Solheim Cup, and his younger brother Sebastian is No. 23 in the men’s tennis rankings. Their father, Petr Korda, won the Australian Open tennis tournament in 1998.
She said she messaged with Clark on Instagram, but nothing beats spending time on the ropes.
“Seeing the influence she has on people, bringing them here, and seeing what an incredible influence she has just for the sport, that 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 last summer on the PGA Tour — and she chipped in a putt from about 3-point distance .
“It was great to see how relaxed she was,” Korda said. “Obviously with the media attention she’s received probably over the last two and a half years, you can see how comfortable she is playing in front of a bigger crowd. And she really enjoyed it. You can say it.
“She’s really, really talented. She picked up the ball very cleanly. She was losing a few shots to the right, but I asked her how many times a week she played and I think with the number of obligations 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 talked about migraines and thinks her neck injury that kept her from doing the Asian swing might be related.
Korda has already won the LPGA Player of the Year for the first time. She leads the Race to CME Globe but has yet to win the season-ending CME Group Tour championship next week, which awards $4 million to the winner.