Although Hawkeyes basketball player Caitlin Clark was the star of the John Deere Classic Pro-Am show, she said it was not the best golf she has ever played.

Even though things didn’t go her way on the back 9, she said she applied her mindset of playing basketball to managing the golf course.

“Yeah, I think just taking a deep breath – and that’s the same thing with basketball as you know – don’t feel the pressure so much,” Clark said.

“I would say the mental side of golf is way more important than hitting a shot or hitting the ball.

It’s so much more mental and I think throughout my career – I’m only 21 so being able to learn that has been hard but it is really, really true.

You have one bad thing you have to recover from, whether it’s a turnover, whether it’s a missed pass, whether it’s a missed chip.

I think that’s just the biggest thing – you know, things are gonna go wrong.

That’s how sports work. It’s how you respond to it. and that’s kind of how I’ve approached things this last year and throughout my career moving forward.”

Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen was front-and-center in Clark’s JDC gallery, and she had some words of wisdom for her young star.

”I thought the last three or four holes, I think she’ll be down about it, frustrated,” Jensen said.

“But I think she got fatigued and I think there’s a different fatigue in golf than basketball.

And let’s not forget, you know, we’re practicing most days, right? … She’s smart enough to know that a couple lessons, trying to practice a little bit the last couple three weeks, probably, you can’t ask to have a hole-in-one, right? So I wasn’t surprised.

I thought she did a nice job. I just hope she doesn’t feel too down about the last couple of holes, because I thought overall she did a great job.”