NAPLES, Fla. — The gallery was energized. Fans were rows deep … around the tee box and along the fairways and greens. Hundreds of autograph seekers were on the hunt.
This was the scene at Pelican Golf Club on Nov. 13 during the week of an LPGA event. But it wasn’t for Nelly Korda or Lexi Thompson or Lydia Ko … or any other LPGA star. And it wasn’t even during one of the four days of The Annika.
This was on Wednesday. During the pro-am. And for one of the most recognizable female athletes in the world, basketball superstar Caitlin Clark.
Clark was the best thing that happened to the LPGA Tour last week, and that’s counting Korda winning for the seventh time this season. The WNBA star played 18 holes, splitting her round alongside Korda and Annika Sorenstam.
Indiana Fever start Caitlin Clark signs autographs for fans after the pro-am ahead of the 2024 The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican at Pelican Golf Club. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)
LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan called Clark and Korda “two of the biggest superstars in women’s sports.”
But one of them clearly has become transcendental.
That one day encapsulated the growing popularity of women’s sports, which is led by Clark, who single-handedly transformed women’s basketball, first at the Iowa and now with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.
While the LPGA has grown its brand and continues smashing marks with higher purses, some of the league’s most notable stars believe there is more to be done.
The LPGA, they say, has not quite caught that wave and a lot of that has to do with getting more eyeballs on the sport and the personalities.
TV coverage has ‘room for improvement’
“I think women’s sports in general are on such a high right now and moving in the right direction, whether it’s growing in each sport or golf in general,” Thompson said.
“Our TV coverage has increased (but) I think there is a lot more room for improvement. There are so many talents out here and so many stories that we can really focus on and really bring in a bigger fan base than what we have.”
The CME Group Championship starts Thursday at Tiburon and the winner will receive $4 million, the largest single prize in women’s golf history. That’s more than every PGA Tour event this season with the exception of The Players ($4.5 million) and U.S. Open ($4.3 million).
The tour announced Wednesday more than $131 million will be distributed in prize money in 2025, the largest in its…
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