BELLEAIR, Fla. – Caitlin Clark had just completed a busy day of media obligations at Pelican Golf Club on Tuesday ahead of her LPGA pro-am debut at The Annika, operated by Gainbridge, an Indianapolis-based sponsor of the 22-year-old old Indiana Fever superstar. Most of the professionals had already left the building, but Clark put on a pair of sweatpants, took off her high heels and walked straight to the chipping area – barefoot. Under the setting sun, Clark hit shot after shot, some good, some bad. Two hapless skulls raced around the 60-yard green before ending up just a few steps from the glass-windowed media center.
Clark’s top priority this week, she said, was not to hit anyoneso she took every last-minute opportunity to keep her game in check.
A day later, that goal lasted eight holes – and almost two – proving that Clark is human after all.
Caitlin Clark at The Annika pro-am: sights and sounds at Pelican Golf Club
Sights and sounds of WNBA star Caitlin Clark’s performance in the LPGA’s Annika pro-am.
Playing alongside world No. 1 Nelly Korda in the morning portion of Wednesday’s pro-am, Clark dragged her hybrid into a sizable gallery to the left of the par-3 ninth green. No one was injured and one spectator walked away with an autographed golf ball (numbered with Clark’s signature #22), possibly a minor bruise and a story.
Clark left bright and early, at 7 a.m. ET, in front of hundreds of fans, many wearing Indiana Fever and Iowa Hawkeye jerseys. A group of about fifteen young girls from Girls Golf, an LPGA and USGA initiative, traveled in, mostly from Miami, to watch Clark and Korda play together. They brought signs and hung them behind each tee box. Many other kids had skipped school so they could catch a glimpse of the WNBA Rookie of the Year.
The format was a mess, so it mattered little that Clark argued with her driver. She found the green with her opening approach and two-putted from about 25 feet. But then the left side came with her irons, not a great recipe on a brutally tough Pelican layout. In a staging area near the second green, Clark’s Texas wedge didn’t have enough pace to hit a heavy board, and her ball rolled back off the putting surface. Clark immediately picked up her ball, but then questioned her decision when Korda sent her chip down through the green and wide of Clark’s ball.
“I guess I shouldn’t have picked that up,” Clark told the gallery.
“Wait until the third hole!” a fan shouted.
‘What’s on the third hole? Should I be afraid?” Clark responded playfully.
Moments later, on the par-3 third, Clark nearly missed the ball with her hybrid, hitting it 45 degrees to the left and watching it zoom just over the heads of fans crammed along the rope line. Some then ran into a nearby bougainvillea bush to get the souvenir. Thorns be damned.
Clark missed the pin on the par-4 fifth, about 40 yards to go, but then came the first of several flashes of brilliance with her short game, easily the best part of her game on the day. With the green moving away from her and then falling in front, Clark showed soft hands in knocking down her third shot to 15 feet. In fact, she sank the putt for par.
“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 larger audience. And she just really enjoyed it. You can see that. Like she’s 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. So because she only played once a week, she played very well.
At the turn, Korda and Clark exchanged golf balls, and Korda handed Clark to World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, who put one in on the par-3 12th hole and put up Clark’s only birdie of the day from six feet.
The crowd roared.
It was exactly the scene tournament organizers envisioned when Clark committed to the event. Ticket sales were reportedly up 12x compared to last year.
“Nothing that we would really see on a normal Wednesday,” Sorenstam said. “It’s just great how it draws attention to the tournament.”
Sorenstam broke down Clark’s game a bit, saying Clark had some pop off the tee and good dynamics in her swing, but struggled with her tempo, which was a bit fast.
“She played with Nelly up front, and Nelly is all about power, so when you play with someone like that you naturally want to swing harder and faster. Now when it’s windy I just have to calm down, find the pace and try to get the clubface more straight on the target. I think that’s more important. There is a lot going on for her too. It’s not just there that I concentrate on my game. She tries to be the face of the day.”
Sorenstam’s biggest piece of advice to Clark, a 16 handicap, for the future?
“She just has to play,” Sorenstam said.
Clark did a walk-and-talk with Golf Channel’s Kira K. Dixon on the seventh hole and promptly made a 3-wood. She quickly threw down another ball and dropped one across the fairway. She laughed through it. Normally Clark is the best player in the arena, but this time she was the one who appreciated greatness.
“Obviously when you see them doing what they do beforehand, it looks like people would pay for that. I got to do it for free and have fun with them,” Clark said afterward. “Definitely a fun morning. I am very grateful that Gainbridge sent me here. It is clear that their support for women’s sport is enormous. Good luck and happiness. There it hung; did well. It was a good day.”
And with that, Clark signed a few autographs as fans rushed down the hill behind the 18th green before heading to the airport, determined to get back on the golf course soon.
