{"id":265183,"date":"2025-11-01T15:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T15:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/265183\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T15:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T15:34:11","slug":"why-kai-trump-18-was-granted-an-lpga-sponsors-exemption-into-the-annika","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/265183\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Kai Trump, 18, Was Granted an LPGA Sponsor’s Exemption into the Annika"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, headlines regarding Kai Trump likely caused a few eyebrows to raise. <\/p>\n

President Donald Trump’s 18-year-old granddaughter received an LPGA sponsor\u2019s exemption into the ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican Golf Club from Nov. 13 to 16.<\/p>\n

The move, however, came with some criticism. Although Trump, who is 461st in the American Junior Golf Association ranking, has committed to play college golf at the University of Miami next year, some feel it\u2019s a publicity stunt, taking a spot away from someone who may be more deserving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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But there\u2019s a specific reason why Trump was granted a tee time with the world\u2019s top players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would imagine, since the Tuesday announcement, that this is one of the most talked-about women\u2019s golf tournaments that has probably ever existed,\u201d Justin Sheehan, the chief operating officer of Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla., told Golf.com<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s on news channels and sports channels. The numbers of social-media impressions, I guess they call it, are staggering. Love it or hate it, it\u2019s getting people to talk about the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on a mission to grow this game. Seeing the impact (Fever guard) Caitlin (Clark) had last year was fairly eye-opening.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, Clark teed it up in the ANNIKA’s pro-am<\/a>, and tournament host Annika Sorenstam, a World Golf Hall of Famer, admitted she had never seen a crowd that big during an LPGA practice round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just great how it brings attention to the tournament,\u201d the 72-time LPGA champion said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year later, Clark will be back at Pelican<\/a>, and adding Trump to the mix will only bring more eyeballs to the event\u2014especially with nearly six million social media followers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of Trump\u2019s notoriety, Mike McGee, who is Sorenstam\u2019s husband, doesn\u2019t understand the backlash.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor anybody that says (Trump) doesn\u2019t deserve to be there, I think it\u2019s crazy,\u201d he said on his and Sorenstam\u2019s SiriusXM show this week. \u201cThe idea is to highlight women’s golf, and she\u2019s going to do it to a diverse crowd of millions more people that would tune in (who) otherwise wouldn’t tune in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorenstam didn\u2019t extend the invite to Trump; though, the 55-year-old Swede is glad Trump is in the field, along with fellow exemptions Anne-Sterre den Dunnen of Wake Forrest and Lauryn Nguyen\u2014a former Northwestern University golfer making her pro debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m excited to have (Trump), too, and like you (McGee) said, this is a sponsor\u2019s invite,\u201d Sorenstam said on SiriusXM. \u201cThe sponsor gets to choose who they want to pick that would add to the tournament in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the LPGA backs the decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSponsor invitations are an important way to spotlight emerging talent and bring new attention to our tournaments and the LPGA,\u201d said Ricki Lasky, the tour\u2019s chief tour business and operations officer. \u201cKai\u2019s broad following and reach are helping introduce golf to new audiences, especially among younger fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, meanwhile, hopes to make the most of her opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream has been to compete with the best in the world on the LPGA Tour,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cThis event will be an incredible experience. I look forward to meeting and competing against so many of my heroes and mentors in golf as I make my LPGA Tour debut.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing is certain, though: all eyes will be on Trump at Pelican, seeing if she can make the cut. <\/p>\n

More on Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this week, headlines regarding Kai Trump likely caused a few eyebrows to raise. President Donald Trump’s 18-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-265183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}