Kai Trump, the US president’s granddaughter and the eldest child of Donald Trump Jr, opened her LPGA career with a 13-over-par 83 on Thursday at The Annika, a debut round that left her at the bottom of the leaderboard and underscored the chasm between elite junior golf and a field stacked with the sport’s top professionals.
The 18-year-old amateur, playing on a much-discussed sponsor’s exemption, began her round on the back nine alongside former major champion Hinako Shibuno and Germany’s Olivia Cowan. She received warm applause when her name was announced on the par-4 10th tee and again after she drove it safely into the fairway, one of the few calm moments in a jittery start.
Trump confessed afterward she was more nervous than when she spoke at the Republican National Convention last year and it showed. She bogeyed her opening four holes, a run of tentative strokes that left her scrambling before she had taken a fifth swing from a fairway. A steady par at the par-5 14th finally stopped the slide, and she mixed two more bogeys with a pair of pars, including a sharp up-and-down at the par-3 16th that drew one of the biggest roars of the early afternoon. She reached the turn in 41.
Her mother, Vanessa, and University of Miami assistant coach Jim Garren walked inside the ropes throughout – one day after Miami formally announced her commitment to join the Hurricanes for the 2026–27 season. What Golf Channel commentators described as the day’s largest gallery trailed along, a mix of supporters, skeptics and onlookers aware that her exemption had dominated American golf discourse for weeks.
The LPGA’s television window expired after Trump’s first hole, an awkward scheduling outcome given the buzz surrounding her debut, but it did nothing to slow the crowds. Fans pressed up against the ropes on nearly every fairway.
The back nine offered more turbulence. Trump dropped a shot immediately after the turn, then ran into real trouble with two double-bogeys over her next four holes. On the par-4 eighth – her 17th – a topped iron produced an audible gasp, only for her to answer with her crispest swing of the day, knocking the following shot to four feet despite Trump looking straight into the sun. Two more bogeys at the finish left her at 83, the highest score of the day.
“The whole time I was nervous without a doubt,” Trump said. “But I thought I did pretty good for a first time, being the youngest player in the field. Now I kind of know how it goes.”
Her presence has split opinion across the US golf establishment. Some analysts argued that the combination of Donald Trump’s granddaughter in the field and WNBA star Caitlin Clark in the pro-am made this one of the tour’s most talked-about weeks in recent memory. Others questioned whether a player ranked No 461 in the American Junior Golf Association should occupy a late-season spot in a field where professionals are fighting for season-ending accolades and – for some – their jobs next year.
Tournament host Annika Sorenstam defended the decision, urging critics to “give this girl a chance.” Pelican Golf Club owner Dan Doyle Jr, whose club controlled the exemption, said Trump’s presence had already driven a noticeable surge in attention, particularly across social media, where she has more than nine million followers. “She’s lovely to speak with,” Doyle said. “And this has created a buzz on top of the other great players we have here.”
Trump has repeatedly framed the week as a learning experience. She has been candid about weaknesses in her short game and putting, even as Pelican officials praised her length and ball-striking during practice rounds.
Her support network includes her grandfather, whose advice was to “have fun, don’t get nervous”, and Tiger Woods, the 15-times major champion who is dating her mother, Vanessa. Woods told her to “go with the flow”, guidance she referenced again Thursday as she recounted regrouping after mistakes.
South Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran led after a six-under 64, one shot ahead of Australia’s Grace Kim. Jennifer Kupcho sat two strokes back, while Charley Hull was among a group one shot further behind – a reminder of just how sharp the standard is at an event that routinely draws one of the LPGA’s strongest fields.
