After enduring others teeing off on her for two weeks, Kai Trump was finally able to set a golf ball on a tee and swing away in an LPGA Tour event. <\/p>\n
President Trump\u2019s eldest granddaughter shot a 13-over 83 Thursday in the first round of the Annika<\/a> at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla. The high school senior and University of Miami commit<\/a> bogeyed the first five holes before registering a par, totaling 42 on her front nine and 41 on the back. <\/p>\n Critics among and beyond her nearly nine million social media followers were relentless in noting the 18-year-old\u2019s obvious privilege for securing a sponsor invitation<\/a>. Dan Doyle Jr., owner of Pelican Golf Club, cheerfully admitted that Trump\u2019s inclusion had little to do with ability and a lot to do with public relations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea of the exemption, when you go into the history of exemptions, is to bring attention to an event,\u201d Doyle told reporters this week. \u201cYou got to see her live, she\u2019s lovely to speak to.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd she\u2019s brought a lot of viewers through Instagram, and things like that, who normally don\u2019t watch women\u2019s golf. That was the hope. And we\u2019re seeing that now.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump attends the Benjamin School in Palm Beach and is ranked a distant No. 461 by the American Junior Golf Assn. She also competes on the Srixon Medalist Tour on the South Florida PGA. Her top finish was a tie for third in July.<\/p>\n On the eve of the Annika, Trump got a boost from a chat with Tiger Woods, who is dating her mom, Vanessa Trump. More privilege, sure, but what did he tell her? <\/p>\n \u201cI mean, he is the best golfer in the entire world. I would say that. And an even better person,\u201d Kai Trump told reporters. \u201cHe told me to go out there and have fun and just go with the flow. Whatever happens, happens.\u201d<\/p>\n What happened was far from flawless. With Allan Kournikova \u2014 younger brother of tennis star Anna Kournikova and a lifelong friend \u2014 as her caddie, Trump bogeyed the first four holes before registering her first par. <\/p>\n She will play again Friday and is the longest of shots to make the cut for the final two rounds over the weekend after finishing the first round in 108th \u2014 and last \u2014 place.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been an eventful week for Trump. She played nine holes of a pro-am round Monday with tournament host Annika Sorenstam, who empathized with the difficulty of handling an intense swirl of criticism and support.<\/p>\n \u201cI just don\u2019t know how she does it, honestly,\u201d Sorenstam said. \u201cTo be 18 years old and hear all the comments, she must be super tough on the inside. I\u2019m sure we can all relate what it\u2019s like to get criticism here and there, but she gets it a thousand times.\u201d<\/p>\n Sorenstam recalled her own exemption for the Bank of America Colonial in 2003 when she became the first woman to play in a men\u2019s PGA Tour event<\/a> in 58 years. She made a 14-foot putt at the 18th green to save par and end her round of 74, giving her a 36-hole total of five-over 145. She hurled her golf ball into the grandstand, wiped away tears and was hugged by her husband, David Esch.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was, at the time, maybe a little bit of a controversial invite,\u201d Sorenstam said. \u201cIn the end, I certainly appreciated it. It just brings attention to the tournament, to the sport and to women\u2019s sports, which I think is what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n Attention was temporarily diverted Wednesday from Trump to WNBA star Caitlin Clark<\/a> and her Indiana Fever teammate Sophie Cummingham at the Annika pro-am. Clark, paired with defending tournament champion Nelly Korda, went viral by sinking a long putt<\/a> from off the green.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually grew up playing a little bit. I remember for one of my birthdays, I got this cute little set of pink golf clubs,\u201d Clark said. \u201cThen, I kind of stopped playing and then during COVID, I picked it back up.\u201d<\/p>\n Cunningham\u2019s moment was less majestic. After Clark hit her tee shot on the 10th hole down the middle of the fairway, Cunningham sliced hers into the crowd. She yelled \u201cHappy Gilmore,\u201d drawing laughs from the gallery.<\/p>\n Trump, for her part, swished a basket<\/a> from beyond the free-throw line of an outdoor court near the first tee while waiting to begin the pro-am. <\/p>\n Sponsor invitations have long been used to attract attention to a tournament through a golfer who is from a well-known family or, in recent years, has a strong social media presence. Trump qualifies on both counts. <\/p>\n Her nine million followers combined on Instagram<\/a>, Tiktok<\/a>, YouTube<\/a> and X<\/a> include teens, golf fans and members of her grandfather\u2019s administration such as Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. <\/p>\n In addition to posting what she does on and off the course, Trump creates videos of playing golf with her grandpa and chronicled their visit to the Ryder Cup<\/a>. She also recently launched her own sports apparel and lifestyle brand, KT<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cKai\u2019s broad following and reach are helping introduce golf to new audiences, especially among younger fans,\u201d said Ricki Lasky, the LPGA\u2018s chief tour business and operations officer.<\/p>\n Beth Ann Nichols, a senior writer a Golfweek, has gone from believing Trump receiving a sponsor into the Annika as a \u201cterrible idea\u201d to a supporter of it. She wrote that her first reaction was that \u201cher game isn\u2019t ready for this kind of spotlight; there\u2019s too much on the line at the season\u2019s penultimate event to have a circus break out.\u201d<\/p>\n But once the week unfolded she changed her mind, believing the President\u2019s grandaughter is good for women\u2019s golf.<\/p>\n \u201cBetween the presence of Caitlin Clark in the pro-am and President Donald Trump\u2019s granddaughter in the 108-player field, this might become one of the most talked-about LPGA events in the tour\u2019s 75-year history,\u201d Nichols wrote. \u201cFor those who understand how painstakingly tough it is for women\u2019s golf to break through the golf world, let alone the sports world and beyond, these opportunities don\u2019t come often.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump will need to improve her game to become more than a novelty. She finished last among a field of 24 at 52-over par in the Junior Invitational<\/a> at Sage Valley in March. Her performance Thursday illustrated that while she is strong off the tee, her short game needs to develop. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody here is thinking that she will be the one holding the trophy on Sunday,\u201d Sorenstam said. \u201cI spoke to her a little bit yesterday. You know, just make the most out of this week. There will be lessons learned. Take them to the future and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n The oldest of the president\u2019s 11 grandchildren<\/a>, Kai became known nationally when she made a speech in support of her grandfather\u2019s campaign at the 2024 Republican National Convention<\/a>. Her parents, Donald Trump Jr. and Vanessa Trump, divorced in 2018, and her mother has been dating Woods<\/a> for about a year.<\/p>\n