“Become a professional golfer,” Caitlin Clark said with a smile when asked about her offseason plans after elimination from the WNBA playoffs. Her love for golf started in childhood when she was introduced to the sport by her father Brent Clark. While she did not take up golf as a primary sport, she did bring a lot of recognition to the WNBA. Thus, now that she is ready to take part in the Pro-Am in November, golf analysts feel that this is already bringing an astounding advantage to the sport, apart from letting the Des Moines native follow her heart.

On Saturday, analyst Amy Rogers revealed on the Golf Channel the win-win situation for the sport after Clark announced her participation in the Pro-Am.

“If you haven’t heard already, you probably were living under a rock. Because anything that Caitlin Clark does seem to just transcend all of sports and news. And we’ve seen tons of reporting… So in terms of this being important for the LPGA, I think it’s already achieved its objective so far in terms of garnering attention for the LPGA. We’ve seen reports about her not only being in the field at the Pro-Am, but we’ve seen subsequent reporting about her taking lessons in preparation for this Pro-Am….,” Rogers stated.

Clark is going to participate in The Annika, the penultimate tour in the LPGA. She will also be a panelist with the Pelican Golf Club at the Women’s Leadership Summit. It is reported that she will ply her trade alongside Nelly Korda and Annika Soresntam and for that the Iowa-alum was seen prepping up with longtime LPGA Tour player Martha Foyer-Faulconer. Furthermore, Rodgers also wants this to be a long-term partnership.

“And an additional reporting about who she’s gonna play with. She’s gonna play alongside Nelly Korda and Annika Sorenstam, and so it’s been a huge win already for the LPGA in terms of publicity. Now what the LPGA does with this going forward that remains to be seen but given Clark and her love of golf , saying ‘She was gonna go off and become a professional golfer,’ I think there’s an opportunity for the LPGA to capitalize and maybe make this into more of a partnership that could benefit both sides beyond just this one off,” Rogers concluded.

Moreover, the event is marketed by Gainbridge and therefore it might be a comfortable place for the reigning WNBA ROTY as she has been associated with the brand since her inception into the W. Recounting the times of Nancy Lopez, fans predict that Clark might bring her own following to golf that can leverage the marketability aspect of the sport.

The women’s golf world right now needs more viewers as Korda had said once, “I think that it just depends on the opportunities that are brought to you. If you’re playing good golf and you’re competing well and people see how much love you have for the game or how much work you put in day in and day out, I think everything comes with results.” Perhaps, CC can bring those back with her participation. Meanwhile, not only fans but golfers are also excited for her LPGA debut.

Lilia Vu seems excited about Caitlin Clark’s participation

“Yeah, it’s going to be huge. I love it when women’s sports overlap,” LPGA star Lilia Vu recently spoke about Clark’s participation in the Pro-Am. Clark, with her ROTY award and back-to-back records, grabbed all the attention from the media. Thus, Vu feels that her appearance can also bring back women’s golf into the mainstream.

“When the news was announced I immediately turned to my mom and I’m like, oh, my gosh, Caitlin Clark is coming to the Pelican. I thought it was the coolest thing. Hopefully, I’m lucky enough to meet her on that Pro-Am day and hopefully run into her,” Vu spoke about the time when the No. 22’s participation news broke. During the Chevron Championship, Vu had compared Clark to Korda, expressing that the latter was golf’s Caitlin Clark.

This year’s event will not be part of any broadcast, something that the golf community wants to change. Hopefully, women’s golf will soon attract a lot of viewership. As for Clark, fans will rush to the course to watch their favorite player, but this time with a club.