“She brings a new demographic to the game,” Annika Sorenstam told Fox News Digital, summarizing what she and other players are seeing firsthand as crowds change around pro-ams and celebrity golf events. The Hall of Famer — now playing in the American Century Championship — said the shift in attendance and attention is notable and worth watching for the future of women’s golf.
What Sorenstam said
Sorenstam described a clear uptick in fan engagement when Caitlin Clark is present at events. “She’s obviously very popular. She brings a new demographic to the game, and when she’s there playing the pro-am, I mean we have a lot of people attending and wanting her autograph,” Sorenstam told Fox News Digital. That quote is Sorenstam’s observation about fan behavior, reported by Fox News Digital.
She framed the comment as an on-the-ground impression rather than formal market research: increased foot traffic around player booths and pro-am tee areas, more requests for autographs and photos, and a different mix of fans coming out to watch. Those are Sorenstam’s reported observations, not independently audited attendance figures.
Why Clark matters to women’s golf
Sorenstam argued that Clark’s visibility is changing the kinds of people who show up at events, and that change can have downstream effects: more interest from casual fans, different sponsorship conversations, and increased media attention that reaches new audiences. Other national outlets have also noted Clark’s outsized impact on attention to women’s sports and basketball viewership, reinforcing the idea that high-profile athletes can shift audience makeup.
Clark has taken part in the ANNIKA Pro-Am, an appearance Sorenstam highlighted as concrete evidence of Clark’s cross-sport appeal. Sorenstam also said Clark has the personality and competitive instincts that make her popular with fans. When Sorenstam speculated that Clark “would do quite well” in celebrity golf, she explicitly framed that as her opinion rather than a prediction based on tournament results.
Annika Sorenstam at the American Century Championship
Sorenstam comes into the American Century Championship as one of the event’s stronger contenders. Her résumé is well known: 72 LPGA Tour wins and 10 major titles. The celebrity format used at Lake Tahoe employs Stableford scoring, which awards points for scores on each hole instead of adding all strokes together. Sorenstam said the Stableford approach encourages a more aggressive mindset — go for birdies and eagles rather than play solely to minimize mistakes.
“With the Stableford scoring format, I need to be more aggressive and pursue more birdies and eagles,” she told Fox News Digital, describing how the format changes strategic choices compared with standard stroke play. That tactical shift is part of why fans enjoy celebrity events: players adapt their games and sometimes take risks they might not in standard tour competition.
Annika Foundation and growing the game
Off the course, Sorenstam emphasized the Annika Foundation’s mission to expand access to golf and to teach life skills to young women. She said the foundation focuses on programming that pairs golf instruction with leadership and personal-development lessons, and that watching participants succeed is a central reward.
“We try to empower and advance young women through the game of golf, but also in life, different life skills,” Sorenstam told Fox News Digital. She cited the foundation work as a long-term lever for growing the game and said increased fan interest at high-profile exhibitions can help attract resources and visibility to youth programs.
Broadcast, schedule and what to watch
The American Century Championship will be carried on NBC and streamed on Peacock, giving viewers multiple ways to follow the action. NBC Sports and Peacock typically provide live and on-demand windows for celebrity golf coverage; check NBC’s sports page or Peacock for local broadcast times and streaming details.
NBC Sports and Peacock will have listings and schedule notes for the event.
Caitlin Clark is not playing in this particular tournament due to her WNBA schedule and commitments. Sorenstam noted Clark’s ongoing basketball calendar as a practical reason she has not joined every golf appearance, while also saying Clark’s profile still affects attendance and conversation even when she is not on-site.
Small details and what to expect
Expect Sorenstam to take a more aggressive line under Stableford scoring and to use interviews and media access during the week to mention the Annika Foundation’s initiatives. Her comments about Clark are observational and should be read as such — important context, but not a substitute for formal audience metrics.
Media partners and tournament organizers will be watching whether spikes in attendance or social engagement around celebrity appearances translate into sustained interest across a season. That conversion — from headline-driven attention to lasting fan engagement — is often the hardest to measure in the short term.
What comes next
We’ll monitor how the American Century Championship weekend plays out for attendance and broadcast engagement and report back if there are measurable changes tied to celebrity appearances. Coverage will also follow Annika Foundation news and any future cross-sport appearances by high-profile athletes that could influence fan demographics.
Source attribution
Primary reporting and quotes in this article are from Fox News Digital: Fox News Digital. Additional coverage of Caitlin Clark’s broader audience impact has appeared in national sports outlets, including ESPN coverage of Clark’s effect on viewership and attention to women’s sports: ESPN search results on Caitlin Clark. Quotations attributed to Sorenstam in this article are reported comments to Fox News Digital and are presented as her observations and opinions.
