BELLAIR, Fla. — There were hushed tones and whispers as 6:30 came and went, as each minute ticked closer to the 7 a.m. tee time. Was there traffic? Has anyone seen her? LPGA and tournament organizers, eager to see Wednesday go off without a hiccup, fretted the day would instead begin with one.
Then, around 19 minutes before her tee time, Caitlin Clark strolled onto the driving range at the Pelican Golf Club. Casual and cool in head-to-toe Nike, an official carrying her bag to the far end where cameras were set up to document her first swings. She thinned the first couple, but soon enough was launching them into the sun as it rose over the tree line. An introduction to her caddie, an insistence to him that she would not care if a club was dropped along the next 18 holes, and a cart ride later, Clark was standing on the first tee box at The Annika next to its namesake and Nelly Korda, the No. 1 golfer in the world — with all the attention on her, a 16 handicap.
This is Caitlin Clark’s normal but something extraordinary for this golf tournament, a crowd that swelled to in the thousands, following the biggest women’s basketball star in the world hit a little white ball.
“We’ve messaged a little on Instagram beforehand but to get to spend some time with her and to see the…
