Paige Spiranac comments on Caitlin Clark's "relatable" golf trait
Caitlin Clark has been trying her hand at golf during the WNBA offseason, and she did something today that caught Paige Spiranac's eye. Clark is competing in the 2024 LPGA Annika tournament pro-am. She's partnered with the tournament's namesake Annika Sorenstam and Nelly Korda, the world number one.
In one of her rounds, Clark did something amateur golfers will find familiar. She took a swing off the tee and yanked it just over the head of the gallery. It was missed contact, but she immediately dropped another ball to try again.
The crowd laughed and yelled "fore" as Clark prepared to do it over again. After a few practice swings, she nailed her second try with much stronger contact. It elicited some cheers from the crowd, and Spiranac shared her thoughts on the whole thing. Spiranac said of Clark's mishaps on X (formerly Twitter):
"The immediate reload is so relatable."
The former LPGA Tour pro turned content creator has taken her fair share of swings and has had poor contact sometimes. She knows better than most what it's like to miss a shot and not even bother with it, dropping another ball to try again for a better result.
Caitlin Clark opens up on nerves in golf
Caitlin Clark has been in the NCAAW National Championship and the WNBA playoffs before, so she has performed on the biggest stages of her sport. In golf, something she's picked up in the offseason, she hasn't yet.
She admitted before the Annika pro-am that she was nervous at her first golf tournament back in 2023. Caitlin Clark played alongside Ludvig Aberg and Zach Johnson before the John Deere Classic last year.
Clark also anticipated nerves today as she said (via ESPN):
"I remind myself, like, I don't really care what happens. Doesn't really matter. I don't play golf for a living. Just have fun with it. This isn't super serious. Enjoy the experience. There were so many people that would kill to be in my position or in my shoes. The people following outside the ropes would love an opportunity to hit a ball on the first tee or something like that."
Clark jokingly expressed after her WNBA season ended that she'd be turning pro in golf. She later said she would only be playing at an amateur level, including today's pro-am.