Throughout her meteoric rise to the apex of sports, Caitlin Clark has consistently shown she’s willing to engage with her fans, to connect with them on a deep level. Wednesday morning during the pro-am at The Annika, an LPGA tournament in Tampa, Florida, Clark once again proved she’s always ready to give to her fans.

Sure, in this case, the gift was a golf ball rocketed right into the gallery, but hey, generosity comes in many forms. And sometimes souvenirs come at you at high speed.

Here’s another angle. Heads up!

Clark, the WNBA All-Star and Rookie of the Year, teed it up as part of the pro-am field at The Annika, a star-studded LPGA event at Pelican Golf Club near Tampa. Clark teed off early Wednesday and spent the front nine with world No. 1 Nelly Korda. She then played with tournament host Annika Sorenstam for the second nine.

“I’ve watched and she’s amazing,” Clark said of Korda, via The Associated Press. “But golf is hard.”

Though her first shot wasn’t great, Korda was impressed with what she saw from Clark on the course, especially with all of the fans constantly swarming her throughout the round.

“It was great to see how relaxed she was,” Korda said. “Obviously with the media attention she has gotten probably in the past year-and-a-half, two years, you can see how she’s comfortable playing in front of a larger crowd. And she was just really enjoying it. You can tell.

“She’s definitely very talented. She was picking the ball really clean. She was losing a couple shots to the right, but I asked her how many times a week she plays and I think with the amount of obligations she has she probably gets to the golf course once a week.”

After a whirlwind year that saw her cap off a triumphant college career at Iowa and lead an explosion in WNBA popularity with the Indiana Fever, Clark stepped out of the public eye for a few weeks. She’s long professed her love for golf — she even joked about becoming a professional golfer in the offseason — and the LPGA leaped at the opportunity to align with the Caitlin Clark Experience this week.

Ironically enough, Clark’s greatest fear was clocking someone outside the ropes.

“I’m going to hit some good, I’m going to hit some bad,” she said Tuesday prior to the tournament. “Just going to try not to hit anyone standing outside of the ropes. But it’ll be fun.”

Clark calls herself an “average” player with a handicap of 16.

“I’ve tried to take as much time as I can to practice, but there is only so much hope. You just cross your fingers, pray,” she said. “No, I’ve practiced a little bit and I just had the quote about becoming a professional golfer. Everybody thought I was serious. I was not serious. I love it. I love being outside and making it competitive with my friends.”

She apparently didn’t injure anyone with that tee shot, but someone got a one-of-a-kind souvenir. At least, Clark probably hopes it’ll be one of a kind.