BELLEAIR, FLORIDA – NOVEMBER 13: Professional basketball player Caitlin Clark plays her shot from the tenth tee prior to The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican 2024 at Pelican Golf Club on November 13, 2024 in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
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The Annika Driven by Gainbridge tees off Thursday, November 13, at Pelican Golf Club, but fan attendance and TV viewership may reach their peak during Wednesday’s Pro-Am.
Former world No. 1 Nelly Korda will partner with basketball sensation Caitlin Clark starting at 9 a.m. CST on Golf Channel, marking the first time a women’s Pro-Am pairing has received live television coverage. The announcement of Clark’s participation helped drive a twelvefold increase in Pro-Am ticket sales for this year’s event (Golf Digest, 2025).
“[Clark] added so much excitement to the tournament,” Annika Sörenstam said in an interview with Golf Channel on Monday. “We had a lot of people come out; they were standing on the first tee at 7 a.m., waiting for her to hit that first shot” (Golf Digest, 2025).
Galleries swarmed the front-nine pairing of Korda and Clark, with fans crowding tee boxes and greens five rows deep. Clark will be paired with Lauryn Nguyen, the former All-American from Northwestern, on the back nine. She will be joined by teammates Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull, who will caddie for Clark and Briana Scurry, the former goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s national soccer team.
Clark, who plays for the Indiana Fever, is a member at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana, a course that has hosted multiple major championships and offers a strong test ahead of her appearance at the Annika Pro-Am.
“The best part of this is inspiring the next generation. I hope they come to love the game of golf as much as I do,” Korda said during her Pro-Am round on Golf Channel (Golf Digest, 2025).
BELLEAIR, FL – NOVEMBER 11: University of Miami commit and sponsor exemption Kai Trump practices her chipping before making her LPGA Tour debut at The Annika driven by Cambridge at Pelican on November 11, 2025, at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Kai Trump will also tee it up at the event when the tournament begins Thursday. The golf influencer and granddaughter of former President Donald Trump accepted a sponsor’s exemption from The Doyle Family, owners of Pelican Golf Club (Golfweek, 2025).
“So that’s why I just want to give her a break, come out here and have fun. We want her to feel like family here and I want her to feel welcome. I mean, give this girl a chance, right? I think that’s our responsibility this week,” Sörenstam added (Golfweek, 2025).
The addition of Trump and Clark is expected to bring even more attention to the event, with rumors that Tiger Woods and Donald Trump themselves could attend. Woods, who is currently dating Kai Trump’s mother, reportedly offered her some advice ahead of her first LPGA Tour start (Reuters, 2025).
“I mean, he is the best golfer in the entire world — I would say that — and an even better person,” Kai Trump said Tuesday. “He told me to go out there, have fun, and just go with the flow. Whatever happens, happens” (Reuters, 2025).
Korda enters the week as the betting favorite and defending champion at 6-to-1 odds. Miyu Yamashita follows at 8-to-1, looking for her third win of the season after capturing the playoff victory in Malaysia two weeks ago.
Sources
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/break80/2025/11/12/clark-korda-trump-headline-the-annika-driven-by-gainbridge/
