‘She can play at the highest level': Kai Trump caps LPGA debut with 75, near ace and positive impression

BELLEAIR, Fla. – With her LPGA debut officially in the books, Kai Trump will surely soon dial her grandfather, President Donald Trump, to talk through her experience.

He’ll be most proud, Kai says, that she finished strong, finding the 18th green with a 3-wood for the second straight day.

The 18-year-old Trump, who competed in this week’s The Annika as a sponsor exemption, couldn’t convert her 8-foot, downhill curler for birdie, which surely would’ve ignited the crowd of about 500 people around Pelican Golf Club’s clubhouse. But the stress-free par still polished off a 5-over 75, eight shots better than the nervy 83 she posted on Thursday and equal to the second round of her playing competitor, former major champion Hinako Shibuno.

At 18 over, Trump will miss the cut and likely finish last in the 108-player field by six shots, but considering her over/under for her first round was set by one sportsbook at 92.5, Trump’s performance, by all serious accounts, should be considered a win.

“That’s really good, considering this is not just an easy LPGA event, this is probably one of the harder courses that we play on,” said Charley Hull, who played three groups ahead of Trump. “So, for her to come out, she had to be so nervous. It was her first LPGA event – I remember my first event I was really nervous – and she’s got a lot of pressure on her and a lot of eyes on her.”

A day after barely talking through her warmup, Trump was her usual upbeat, chatty self on Friday morning as she readied for her 8:17 a.m. tee time. Those nerves that she battled constantly on Thursday were still there, but they were noticeably less rattling on Friday. Trump showed immediate improvement, rebounding from playing Nos. 1 and 2 in 3 over in the first round to narrowly missing a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 1 and sliding in a 12-foot par save at the next. When she stuffed her tee ball to 6 feet at the par-3 third and rolled in her first-career LPGA birdie, she was 1 under on the day.

The wheels could’ve flown off after that, as she bogeyed the par-4 fourth before tripling the par-4 fifth, hitting a tree with her approach and then blading her third shot over the green and nearly out of play. But after Trump tapped in for ‘7,’ she turned to her caddie, friend Allan Kournikova, a former golf prodigy who once won three straight U.S. Kids Golf world titles. Trump said a few words, then started laughing.

“It is what it is,” Trump recalled of the message. “We got that out of the way, so let’s just move on. It was pretty easy to move on after that.”

Trump nearly birdied the par-4 sixth, then converted an 8-footer for birdie at the par-5 seventh, and she turned in 3-over 38.

With temperatures – and Trump – warming up, the gallery grew in time to see Trump birdied Nos. 11 and 12, the latter a tap-in after Trump nearly holed an 8-iron from 140 yards for what would’ve been her maiden ace – and won the amateur a two-year lease on a Lamborghini Urus, the manufacturer’s first SUV.

“I hit like a tight little draw into it, tried not to get too high because of the wind,” said Trump, whose tee ball, a day after coming to rest in the grandstand tunnel, burned the high edge on its way past the cup. “Yeah, it was a great shot.”

Added Kournikova: “She said that in the beginning of the week, she’s like, ‘I’m keeping the Lambo,’ and then she’s like, ‘No, you can have it.’”

From there, a double bogey at the par-3 15th, a chunked wedge that led to a bogey at the par-4 17th and the rest pars – and a whole lot of confidence to take home with her.

“The first day, I was definitely really nervous,” Trump said. “I think the nerves just got to me. When I went out there today, I felt very calm and peaceful to be honest with you. And, yeah, that’s why I played better.”

Added Trump’s future Miami assistant, Jim Garren: “I hope she realizes that the physical skills and ball-striking are where they need to be to continue progressing in the game. … She got to witness firsthand how the best in the world do it; no better teaching moment than that.”

Trump’s four total birdies on Friday were just one fewer than the combined number from her playing competitors, Shibuno and Olivia Cowan, who first met Trump at the 2023 Aramco Team Series event at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

“But I never watched her; I hadn’t seen her golf, so I had no idea,” Cowan said. “Her demeanor was very good, how she kept it all together.”

Cowan added that playing in front of dozens of Secret Service, police officers and other security was “a little strange.”

“It was not a normal thing,” Cowan continued. “I’ve played with crowds before, so it’s not new, but I guess they were all very focused on her, so as soon as she finished [hitting], they were moving, but we only had to tell them a few times to stop.”

A mini-Tiger effect, perhaps?

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Trump, whose mother, Vanessa, coincidentally dates Tiger Woods, had minimal tournament experience entering this week, at least compared to other Division I-bound players. If Trump has maybe played a couple dozen events, elite juniors like Asterisk Talley and Gianna Clemente do that in a year or so. Trump spoke at last year’s Republican National Convention and was a familiar face on the campaign trail, but this year, with her grandfather now back in the White House, she’s had more time to work on her golf game.

This week, Trump showed glimpses of the potential that Garren and Miami head coach Janice Olivencia already saw in her when they recruited her. If her current trajectory keeps up, imagine how Trump, who is still outside the top 1,200 in Junior Golf Scoreboard’s rankings, will develop once she gets in a college-team environment.

“As far as talent goes, she’s got as much talent as anyone; I think it’s raw, it’s raw talent,” Kournikova said. “I told her when we were walking off the green, I said, ‘Could you imagine if you did this every week, just how comfortable you’d be?’ I mean, these girls come here, it’s like a 9 to 5 for them. They’re clocking in, they show up, they play, they leave, it’s you know, how many every week – 20 weeks a year they’re doing this? This is our first time, and she’s not used to this, and I think today was a good example of how just one day out here and getting those nerves out [can change things]…

“She was definitely a lot more prepared to play today. We still could have saved another three, four shots out there, just a little sloppy stuff here and there, but I’m really excited to see what’s ahead, because if she wants to pursue a career in this game, she can play at the highest level, in my opinion.”

When Trump finished, waiting for her off the 18th green was host Annika Sorenstam, who gave Trump a big hug. Trump then hugged Vanessa and several members of her team before ducking into scoring to sign her scorecard. She then answered a few questions from reporters, signed some autographs and then she was off, having made an impression few probably expected.

“I did everything I could possibly have done for this tournament,” Trump said.

And surely, she’s now inspired to do even more.