Caitlin Clark fever continues to sweep the world.
No wonder why the cover looked like this Best Sports Writing of the Year 2024 Features Photos of former Iowa Hawkeye standouts. Her international fame and unprecedented success have made sports fans interested in women's college basketball and WNBA Like no one has ever experienced before. This explains why famed broadcaster Mike Breen compared Clark to Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry on a recent television broadcast. She generates unparalleled viewership that only legends can match.
Her otherworldly aura is now felt in the golf world. Clark will take her talents to Florida, where she will compete against Annika Sorenstam and world No. 1 Nelly Korda in the Wednesday Pro-Am ahead of this week's LPGA event. Clark is an avid player herself and has played golf, as well as almost every other sport, for as long as she can remember. A 16-handicapper, she says she tried her hand at shooting in the mid-'80s. But Clark will be hoping to collect a score under 100 on Wednesday as he plays two of the all-time greats. She knows that as the size of the gallery increases, so does the pressure. Clark is also the reason the LPGA and Golf Channel dedicate extensive coverage to her LPGA Pro-Am debut, but that is rare and rare at Wednesday's Pro-Am.
“I don't know what I signed up for,” Clark said with a laugh at Tuesday's news conference.
“Free lessons. That's how I look at it. Get your phone out and record everything. [their] Swing. ”
In fact, Sorenstam and Korda are likely to lend Clark a chip or two during the round. But Clark didn't fly to the Tampa area to improve his game. She did it because she's one of the most passionate people on the planet, which helps explain why she became a star.
“I love doing things like this. This is what I'm really passionate about. I'm passionate about women's sports. For me, it's fun. People think basketball is a job. I think it's better to get a job during the off-season. I can play basketball every day, but I know there are a lot of people who would kill to do it.” said Clark.
“I feel very lucky. When they asked me to come here, I thought, 'Yeah, I get to escape the cold of Indianapolis.' I get to play golf with some of the best players. ”This is amazing. ”
Clark was an excellent athlete from an early age and constantly competed against the boys from his hometown in all sports. The Indiana Fever star says he lost a lot of games and failed a lot, but that gave him the push he needed to succeed. She also dreamed of doing something special as a young girl and aspired to win the lottery one day, but she claims that she has achieved just that through her incredible basketball career to date. Some people.
So why did Clark choose basketball over soccer, softball, golf, track and field?
“When I entered high school, I thought basketball was my future. I loved it so much that I wanted to try it out. I guess that was not the case. I wanted to get better. I wanted to spend time on my game. That's probably what set me apart from other sports I played,” Clark explained.
“[The other sports] I just had fun with my friends. I was really competitive, but I worked on my game and never put in extra hours to be better than others. I think that helped me find the path I wanted to take. ”
Clark then shared a story about how when he was in high school, as a member of the varsity soccer team, he would lift weights and practice jump shots before soccer games. On the court, some of her teammates were unhappy because she was more into basketball than soccer, even though she was the best player on the field.
“[My teammates] I couldn't believe I was doing that,” Clark added.
“Even though I loved soccer, I had to give it up. It was just the will to get better. I loved practicing it, but it's not something that everyone really wants to do, what they want to do, and how much It's not just something I'm passionate about, it's something I love to do, and that's what I want to do in the future. [basketball]”
She certainly made the right decision. While in college, Clark became the sport's all-time leading scorer for both men and women. She also has 30 or more points and 10 or more assists in more games than any other player over the past 25 years. The Des Moines, Iowa, native capped off her career at Iowa State by leading the Hawkeyes to the national championship game. However, they lost to the undefeated leader South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Indiana Fever then selected Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, and her stardom continued to rise. She set multiple WNBA records in her first season, including most points and most assists. Clark also became the fastest player to hit 100 3-pointers.
However, she doesn't have much time to play golf as she focuses on her WNBA commitments during the spring, summer and early fall. It's also difficult to play golf in Indianapolis during the WNBA offseason, which runs from October to April. Perhaps this explains why so many amateur golfers can relate to Clark and her game, unlike her game on the court.
“He's strong and he can hit. It doesn't usually go straight. It depends. You just step up there and hope for the best,” Clark said when asked to describe his game.
“No, it's fun. It's very different from basketball. That's why I love it. It's personal. It's a challenge, especially mentally. That's the great thing about golf.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
