{"id":291992,"date":"2025-11-14T22:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T22:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/291992\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T22:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T22:44:09","slug":"she-can-play-at-the-highest-level-kai-trump-caps-lpga-debut-with-75-near-ace-and-positive-impression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/291992\/","title":{"rendered":"‘She can play at the highest level’: Kai Trump caps LPGA debut with 75, near ace and positive impression"},"content":{"rendered":"

BELLEAIR, Fla. \u2013 With her LPGA debut officially in the books, Kai Trump will surely soon dial her grandfather, President Donald Trump, to talk through her experience.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be most proud, Kai says, that she finished strong, finding the 18th green with a 3-wood for the second straight day.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old Trump, who competed in this week\u2019s The Annika as a sponsor exemption, couldn\u2019t convert her 8-foot, downhill curler for birdie, which surely would\u2019ve ignited the crowd of about 500 people around Pelican Golf Club\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s performance, by all serious accounts, should be considered a win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really good, considering this is not just an easy LPGA event, this is probably one of the harder courses that we play on,\u201d said Charley Hull, who played three groups ahead of Trump. \u201cSo, for her to come out, she had to be so nervous. It was her first LPGA event \u2013 I remember my first event I was really nervous \u2013 and she\u2019s got a lot of pressure on her and a lot of eyes on her.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Kai Trump rolls in her first LPGA birdie, at No. 3.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s 1 under through three holes of her second round at #TheAnnika<\/a>. She missed a short birdie at the first and then converted a lengthy par save at the second. pic.twitter.com\/KyLX4q8Krs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) November 14, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

The wheels could\u2019ve 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 \u20187,\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is what it is,\u201d Trump recalled of the message. \u201cWe got that out of the way, so let\u2019s just move on. It was pretty easy to move on after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

With temperatures \u2013 and Trump \u2013 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\u2019ve been her maiden ace \u2013 and won the amateur a two-year lease on a Lamborghini Urus, the manufacturer\u2019s first SUV.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hit like a tight little draw into it, tried not to get too high because of the wind,\u201d 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. \u201cYeah, it was a great shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Kournikova: \u201cShe said that in the beginning of the week, she\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m keeping the Lambo,\u2019 and then she\u2019s like, \u2018No, you can have it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 and a whole lot of confidence to take home with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first day, I was definitely really nervous,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI 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\u2019s why I played better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Trump\u2019s future Miami assistant, Jim Garren: \u201cI hope she realizes that the physical skills and ball-striking are where they need to be to continue progressing in the game. \u2026 She got to witness firsthand how the best in the world do it; no better teaching moment than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I never watched her; I hadn\u2019t seen her golf, so I had no idea,\u201d Cowan said. \u201cHer demeanor was very good, how she kept it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowan added that playing in front of dozens of Secret Service, police officers and other security was \u201ca little strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not a normal thing,\u201d Cowan continued. \u201cI\u2019ve played with crowds before, so it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

A mini-Tiger effect, perhaps? <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"GOLF:<\/p>\n

BELLEAIR, FL – NOVEMBER 14: University of Miami commit Kai Trump on right poses for a photo with her mother Vanessa Trump after Kai Trump finished her second round during The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican on November 14, 2025, at the Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. (Photo by Brian Spurlock\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images).<\/p>\n

Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s had more time to work on her golf game.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s rankings, will develop once she gets in a college-team environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as talent goes, she\u2019s got as much talent as anyone; I think it\u2019s raw, it\u2019s raw talent,\u201d Kournikova said. \u201cI told her when we were walking off the green, I said, \u2018Could you imagine if you did this every week, just how comfortable you\u2019d be?\u2019 I mean, these girls come here, it\u2019s like a 9 to 5 for them. They\u2019re clocking in, they show up, they play, they leave, it\u2019s you know, how many every week \u2013 20 weeks a year they\u2019re doing this? This is our first time, and she\u2019s 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]\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cShe 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\u2019m really excited to see what\u2019s ahead, because if she wants to pursue a career in this game, she can play at the highest level, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did everything I could possibly have done for this tournament,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

And surely, she\u2019s now inspired to do even more.<\/p>\n