BELLEAIR, Fla. — Caitlin Clark tightened her ponytail, fixed her hat, took a deep breath, put her hands together, looked upward and pointed her two index fingers in the air—as if to give thanks for what had just happened.

The WNBA megastar then walked off the 18th green at Pelican Golf Club to thousands of adoring fans screaming her name, holding homemade signs and looking for an autograph. People of all ages, many young girls dressed in Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes and Indiana Fever jerseys, were there to see the day’s main attraction after walking all 18 holes with her during the pro-am of LPGA’s The Annika tournment.

Clark played the first nine holes Wednesday with World No. 1 Nelly Korda and the second nine holes with tournament host Annika Sorenstam, who said she has never seen crowd support like this on a Wednesday in her three decades on the LPGA.

“I think it’s awesome,” Sorenstam said. “Yeah, I love all the young girls with the signs. Nothing we would really see on a normal Wednesday. It’s just great how it brings attention to the tournament.”

Maria Fassi had just finished her round and ran to the 18th tee to meet Clark. The timing worked out and the 26-year-old from Mexico was not going to miss her chance.

“She brought so many new eyeballs to our game. It was cool to see so many little girls cheering her on,” Fassi said. “Maybe they got excited after watching Nelly and Annika play and might become golf fans after being out here. I always think being around great athletes elevates all of us. The fact that she chose to do it out here is amazing.

“I wanted to introduce myself, thank her personally for being out here and supporting us, but also just for what she’s doing for women’s sports. It goes beyond the basketball court or the golf course. She’s changing a lot of people’s lives. And I just wanted to make sure she heard it from me as well.”

Clark arrived on the practice range at 6:43 to prepare for her tee time—which was only 17 minutes later—leaving many standing around to wonder if she’d overslept. Dressed in black pants, a white pullover and custom pink Nike shoes with gold spikes, Clark hit only 18 golf balls as the sun poked its head through the clouds, the last seven of which were with her driver.

Then it was off to the first tee to meet Korda for the first time, although the two had messaged each other a few times the previous two weeks. After obligatory photos, Clark was introduced on the first tee and ripped driver down the middle of the fairway. The group played a shamble format.

There were highlights and lowlights, of course. This isn’t Clark’s main sport and is something she tries to play at least once a week during her offseason. But make no mistake, she loves the game.

With a large gallery on hand, Caitlin Clark hits her tee shot on the third hole.

Douglas P. DeFelice

The first dicey moment came on the par-3 third hole when she pulled her tee shot way left, the ball buzzing over the head of a few members of the gallery. Someone later found the ball in the bushes. How do we know it was Clark’s? It was a Titleist 22, the number of her jersey in both college and the WNBA.

Highlight No. 1 came on the par-4 fifth hole when Clark hit her approach pin-high left of the green. Off a difficult, tight lie she chipped the ball to 15 feet and smoothly rolled in the par putt, reacting with a fist pump and a little smirk.

A fist pump worthy putt from @CaitlinClark22 👏 pic.twitter.com/tmqaMYzJi8

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 13, 2024

“It was a great to see how relaxed she was,” Korda said. “Obviously with the media attention she has gotten probably in the past year and a half, two years, you can see how she’s comfortable playing in front of a larger crowd.

“And she was just really enjoying it. You can tell. Like she’s definitely very talented. She was picking the ball really clean.”

Clark’s goal for the week was to avoid hitting anyone with a shot. After the near-miss on the third hole she did hit someone with her approach shot on the ninth hole and rewarded the person with an autographed golf ball. All was forgiven.

On the back nine with Sorenstam, Clark converted a six-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th hole after taking Sorenstam’s tee shot. The remainder of the round was relaxed and Clark continued to playfully interact with the people in the gallery, some who came from as far as Iowa and Indiana. A group of 15 girls from the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf organization in South Florida made the 280-mile drive north to see the WNBA Rookie of the Year.

It appeared as if Clark genuinely had a good time, something she insisted she would do the day before. She doesn’t waste any time over the ball, swings hard, battled a slice off the tee and tended to miss her approach shots left fairly often. Her chipping was decent and putting was good at Pelican Golf Club, which is not an easy track.

“It was so fun,” Clark said. “Obviously getting to see them do what they do up front is like people would pay for that. I got to do it for free and have fun with them.

“Definitely a fun morning … very lucky and fortunate. Hung in there; did all right. It was a good day.”

Said Sorenstam: “It’s great that’s she’s here. Very thankful to her to take the time to be part of our event. She’s just a really nice person, down to earth. She’s an athlete, you can tell. If she didn’t hit it well, she’s a little bit upset because she knows she can do it. She just doesn’t play a lot.”

In something of a novelty in the world of pro-ams on professional golf tours, this one took only four hours, 15 minutes to complete. Those in attendance all wished it was longer. Still, Clark signed autographs for a few minutes after the round then it was time to catch a flight back to Indianapolis.

“It was so amazing,” Korda said. “She’s so sweet, so nice. It was nice it kind of get to spend some time with her. We’ve messaged a little on Instagram beforehand but to get to spend some time with her and 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.”

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com