Can Caitlin Clark Propel Women’s Golf?

🗣️ Hello Friends,

It’s no secret that Caitlin Clark has revolutionized women’s basketball at both the professional and collegiate level. 

She had a massive influence on television ratings for the 2024 WNBA playoffs. 

Her last game of the season pulled in 2.5 million viewers on ESPN.

That total view count was the most in WNBA history, reported by Front Office Sports.

You might ask, how does this relate to golf? 

Caitlin Clark has expressed her love of the game of golf on social media. 

Last week, she participated in a Pro-Am at an LPGA Tour event. 

I am going to break down her future impact from the event. 

Here’s what’s on the agenda for today:

• Caitlin Clark attends Annika’s Sorenstam’s Pro-Am

• The Good and the Bad

• Why the LPGA should embrace Caitlin Clark’s influence

🏌️‍♀️ Caitlin Clark attends Annika’s Sorenstam's Pro-Am

If you aren’t familiar, Annika Sorenstam is one of the greatest female golfers of all-time. 

Annika hosts an annual LPGA event called “The Annika”, hosted at Pelican Golf Club, in Belleair, Florida.

She is able to draw the biggest names in the LPGA to her event. This year had Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang, Charley Hull, among others in attendance.

Annika invited Clark to partake in the Pro-Am and support her foundation. 

This isn’t her first time teeing it up at a Pro-Am at a professional tournament, as she participated in the John Deere Pro-Am earlier this year in Illinois.

But last week was Clark’s first time competing in a LPGA Pro-Am, as she played 9 holes with Annika and Nelly Korda.

Here are some of Caitlin Clark’s thoughts on the privilege of playing in the event ⬇️

😎 The Good…

By no surprise, Caitlin Clark brought some massive crowds to the event. 

Pictures and videos were circulating the internet of fans storming her for autographs.

I want to reiterate that these were crowds for the Pro-Am event on a Wednesday. Pro-Ams are just exhibition tournaments with professionals paired with celebrities, athletes, and sponsors.

Pretty insane that Clark was able to pull in all of these people to watch her play 9 holes.

😮 The Bad…

Well, the bad came from her first tee shot. 

Even someone of Caitlin Clark’s stature, who has been under the bright lights for most of her basketball career, was clearly nervous on her first swing of the day. 

Here are two different angles of Clark’s opening shot.

Caitlin Clark pulled an “one of us” moment, after shanking her first tee shot with the big stick.

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. The fan who was struck got an autograph from her later.

Would you trade getting hit by a golf ball from Caitlin Clark in exchange for her autograph?

Anyways, one of the underrated parts of the video was that Clark instantly reached into her pocket and teed up a breakfast ball.

Nothing really seems to faze her huh?

🏀 Why the LPGA should embrace Clark’s influence

In my opinion, the 2024 LPGA season was a massive step in the right direction for the sport. 

Nelly Korda, #1 player in the world, prevailed at Annika’s event this past weekend. 

This is familiar territory for Korda, as she went on a run of winning 4 straight consecutive LPGA events. 

She ended the 2024 season with 7 wins, totaling $4.2 million of earnings on the course. 

Additionally, the headline team event, the Solheim Cup of Americans vs Europeans, drew roughly 600k viewers. It was nearly double the amount of viewers than the previous edition.

After seeing the presence that Clark had at Annika’s tournament, the LPGA and the landscape of golf needs to continue to keep her around the sport.

It will be difficult to get her involved often, since the heart of the LPGA season overlaps with the WNBA season, but I believe they can make it work at least once a year.

How about we coordinate a TV or YouTube event with her in it? Maybe have her and Nelly Korda go up against a PGA Pro and another athlete in the match series? 

I am sure this won’t be her last Pro-Am she will play in. 

Caitlin Clark does not move the needle, she IS the needle.

Talk soon!