By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-15 14:59:12 | Updated at 2024-11-22 08:58:45
6 days ago
The first golden shards of sunlight had only begun to stretch over Belleview, Florida when the hundreds of fans who had risen at the crack of dawn horseshoed around the first tee box at the Pelican Golf Club to secure their front-rope spot Wednesday morning.
It was an unusual sight for the 7am tee time of a simple Pro-Am. Signs had been boldly and brightly decorated. Spectators were stacked decks deep. And the crammed crowd - young and old, male and female - jostled in anticipation.
Yet, when the first group finally ascended to the tee box, all eyes were not on World No 1 Nelly Korda. No, instead they were on the LPGA's main attraction of the week… a 16-handicapper.
Caitlin Clark joked in September that she'd pledge her WNBA offseason to becoming a professional golfer. At The ANNIKA Pro-Am, she may as well have already been one.
Korda, a two-time major winner and Olympic gold medalist, may be used to attracting spectators in their droves to the fairways but Wednesday was unquestionably the Caitlin Clark show.
Caitlin Clark swapped the court for the course as she played The ANNIKA Pro-Am Wednesday
The basketball star played with World No 1 Nelly Korda (left) but was the main attraction
To cries of 'From the logo' and 'Let's go 22,' the basketball superstar, dressed head-to-toe in Nike with baby pink shoes and statement gold Swooshes, teed off with a club-twirl flourish and assured strut off the tee box.
It was the confident Clark the WNBA has become well-acquainted with over the course of the past season, only this time, the course had replaced the court as her stage.
Playing the first nine holes with Korda and later 10-time major winning legend Annika Sorenstam following the turn the 22-year-old was the blockbuster headliner in the Shamble competition.
The day before she took to the fairways, Clark told the media that her claims of targeting a Tour card were all in jest, before revealing her goal for the tournament: Hit the ball, not the fans.
That goal lasted a total of two holes.
Clark accidentally shanked her tee shot at the third straight into the fans watching on to the left, miraculously avoiding hitting a spectator by inches. The crowd brushed off the errant blunder with a wry chuckle as Clark reloaded and fired off her second attempt at the par-three.
Clark herself managed to take the incident in good humor, later joking that she hadn't 'hit anyone yet.' 'Yet' being the key word.
Six holes later her self-inflicted prophecy was fulfilled when another wayward tee shot did appear to find find a poor unsuspecting fan. Not that they seemed too upset, the pain worth the reward of a signed souvenir from Clark.
The sun was still rising when the hundreds of fans began to secure their spot at the tee
The Indiana Fever Guard also teed it up with golf legend Annika Soresntam (left)
The 22-year-old humorously took digs at her own performance when shots went awry
Littered with misses to the right and the occasional below-par duffs but highlighted with crisp approach shots and impressive shortgame, Clark's round could be described as turbulent at best.
But it was a round that every amateur golfer - and even some professionals - could relate to. Golf isn't her first love. It is a hobby she might play once a week with friends, usually for little more than bragging rights.
Her enthusiasm for the game was infectious. With cheeky digs at her own performance and passionate fist pumps and heel clicks to celebrate shots, Clark lit up the masses.
Her scenic route around the Pelican Golf Club - especially under the influence of understandable nerves - could easily be forgiven.
Not that it would have mattered if she had walked off 18 the next coming of Tiger Woods himself or a hacking Happy Gilmore. The spectators wouldn't have cared either way.
The crowd, the majority of whom appeared to have never watched a shot of golf in their lives, was left in awe of any simple shot Clark executed. Even the close calls with catastrophe went over well.
Kaylynn and Ashley Nenu stood at the side of the third tee when Clark's wayward drive came barreling towards them. To most people a golf ball hurtling towards them at high speed would be terrifying. To them, it was exciting.
They had traveled from Chicago just to watch Clark play the Pro-Am and, being life-long Bulls fans, likened the former Iowa Hawkeye to the great Michael Jordan himself.
Over a thousand spectators showed up in Fever jerseys or homemade hats and tshirts
Young girls flanked the fairways with homemade signs, hoping to attract Clark's attention
'The chance of getting a basketball from her is impossible,' they told DailyMail.com, 'so we thought we'd try and get her golf ball instead.'
The sisters were among the foragers who rushed to scavenge in a nearby bougainvillea bush to snatch the dimpled treasure of Clark's stray ball. Thorns be damned.
By this point, their desperation was no surprise.
Clark may have been playing with icons of the game, Korda and Sorenstam, but with one sweeping glance across the fairways it was clear who the thousands had gathered for.
Golf is a sport known for its strict dress codes. On Wednesday though, there was only one uniform; Fever Jerseys; head-to-toe Iowa yellow and black; handmade t-shirts professing their love.
They had come from far and wide, sacrificing days of work for a glimpse of Clark. One fan, Stan, told DailyMail.com that he had driven eight hours from Georgia for the celebrity tournament, while another, a recent graduate from Clark's alma mater Iowa, took a flight down from Chicago.
Several young girls were dotted throughout the crowd, holding posters that read, 'Go Hawks,' and 'Thank you Caitlin!'
'Okay girls, ready for school now?,' one mother could be heard asking her two daughters at 7:25am as the first group wrapped up on the second green and the clock struck midnight on their Caitlin Clark fairytale.
Two young girls held posters that read, 'We heart Caitlin Clark,' from behind the ropes
LPGA USGA Girls golf brought 15 students - mainly from the Miami area - to watch the event
Others weren't so conscientious, believing witnessing Clark in person was a life experience worth more than anything they could learn in school.
LPGA USGA Girls golf brought 15 students - mainly from the Miami area - admitting they had skipped school to see Korda and Clark together. But in their defense, 'There's no better duo.'
Skiving certainly paid off for nine-year-old Hadley Johnson, who attended the Pro-Am with her dad Delmar, friend Isla Marino, 10, and her mother Jaclyn Marino. Amid the chaos of Clark's escape from the mob of hysterical fans at the 18th green, she flung a signed glove over the crowd into Hadley's waiting hands. It was a prize that her dad insisted the starstruck youngster would have framed and treasure forever.
Even the pros got in on the action as groups behind called over to the fans flocking Clark and her playing partners to ask how she was faring.
Maria Fassi dashed on to the 18th fairway as Clark approached the green in a fangirl moment. While other pros were spotted behind the ropes for once, watching on with their caddies or asking for selfies from the edge of the green.
Retiring Brittany Lincicome used her farewell press conference to shine the spotlight on Clark when the Seminole native gushed about the WNBA star's impact, before asking Clark to sign a basketball for her daughters.
It was impossible to keep a twinge of sympathy at bay for Clark's playing partners - Gainbridge CEO Dan Towriss and his friend Jason Rickard, who plotted their way around the course against the background of mayhem. While 22 may be used to the bright lights, they aren't.
Yet, even they appeared to be in on the act.
On the back of Rickard's white shirt were four numbers, circled, which represented his four favorite Iowa Hawkeye athletes of all time: No. 24, football player Nile Kinnick; No. 16 quarterback Chuck Long; No. 23 Roy Marble, Iowa's all-time leading scorer in men's basketball; and of course, No. 22 Clark.
'You should thank me, Caitlin's going to come over here now,' he told fans after the group opted to take his tee shot on the sixth, which had landed close to the ropes.
This wasn't your average Wednesday on the LPGA Tour. This was a round of golf that had the power to inspire a new generation of women's golf fans.
Clark isn't a golfer. But she is no longer just a basketball player either. She is an icon whose presence even off the court can lift all of women's sport.
Ticket sales rocketed tenfold thanks to her participation and the Golf Channel even extended its coverage of a mere Pro-Am, bending to the demand for Clark.
'To see the influence that she has on people, bringing people out here, and to see how amazing of an influence she is just for sports, was really cool to see firsthand today,' Korda said.
And there was no greater testament to Clark's power of attraction than the circus at the 18th green.
Hoards of fans heaved against the ropes, shoved the overwhelmed security and clamored at Clark in hysterical scenes as she made her way down the line to sign autographs. When she attempted to flee the chaos, the brave few dodged and weaved past her guards to burst onto the green and flock after her escaping cart.
Hoards of fans heaved against the ropes and shoved the drowning security to reach Clark
They clamored at Clark in hysteria as she made her way down the line to sign autographs
It was the height of Beatlemania. It was a Taylor Swift-level of frenzy. It was, quite honestly, suffocating. So much for the mild mannered golf fan.
That may be normal for Caitlin Clark but for women's golf it's extraordinary.
'Nothing we would really see on a normal Wednesday,' Sorenstam said. 'It's just great how it brings attention to the tournament.'
Her on-course performance may not have been a replica of the flashes of magic Clark produces on the court but for the LPGA, Clark was box office.
