Kai Trumps score at the LPGA Tours Annika

After enduring others teeing off on her for two weeks, Kai Trump was finally in a position to set a golf ball on a tee and swing away in an LPGA Tour event.

President Trump’s eldest granddaughter shot a 13-over 83 Thursday in the first spherical of the Annika at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla. The high college senior and University of Miami commit bogeyed the first 5 holes before registering a par, totaling 42 on her entrance 9 and 41 on the back.

Critics among and past her practically 9 million social media followers have been relentless in noting the 18-year-old’s apparent privilege for securing a sponsor invitation. Dan Doyle Jr., proprietor of Pelican Golf Club, cheerfully admitted that Trump’s inclusion had little to do with potential and a lot to do with public relations.

“The idea of the exemption, when you go into the history of exemptions, is to bring attention to an event,” Doyle told reporters this week. “You got to see her live, she’s lovely to speak to.

“And she’s brought a lot of viewers through Instagram, and things like that, who normally don’t watch women’s golf. That was the hope. And we’re seeing that now.”

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 end was a tie for third in July.

On the eve of the Annika, Trump acquired a enhance from a chat with Tiger Woods, who is courting her mother, Vanessa Trump. More privilege, sure, but what did he inform her?

“I mean, he is the best golfer in the entire world. I would say that. And an even better person,” Kai Trump told reporters. “He told me to go out there and have fun and just go with the flow. Whatever happens, happens.”

What occurred was far from flawless. With Allan Kournikova — youthful brother of tennis star Anna Kournikova and a lifelong pal — as her caddie, Trump bogeyed the first 4 holes before registering her first par.

She will play again Friday and is the longest of pictures to make the cut for the remaining two rounds over the weekend after ending the first spherical in 108th — and last — place.

It’s been an eventful week for Trump. She performed 9 holes of a pro-am spherical Monday with event host Annika Sorenstam, who empathized with the issue of handling an intense swirl of criticism and help.

“I just don’t know how she does it, honestly,” Sorenstam said. “To be 18 years old and hear all the comments, she must be super tough on the inside. I’m sure we can all relate what it’s like to get criticism here and there, but she gets it a thousand times.”

Sorenstam recalled her own exemption for the Bank of America Colonial in 2003 when she turned the first lady to play in a males’s PGA Tour event in 58 years. She made a 14-foot putt at the 18th inexperienced to save par and end her spherical of 74, giving her a 36-hole complete of five-over 145. She hurled her golf ball into the grandstand, wiped away tears and was hugged by her husband, David Esch.

“That was, at the time, maybe a little bit of a controversial invite,” Sorenstam said. “In the end, I certainly appreciated it. It just brings attention to the tournament, to the sport and to women’s sports, which I think is what we want.”

Attention was briefly diverted Wednesday from Trump to WNBA star Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever teammate Sophie Cummingham at the Annika pro-am. Clark, paired with defending event champion Nelly Korda, went viral by sinking a long putt from off the inexperienced.

“I actually grew up playing a little bit. I remember for one of my birthdays, I got this cute little set of pink golf clubs,” Clark said. “Then, I kind of stopped playing and then during COVID, I picked it back up.”

Cunningham’s second was less majestic. After Clark hit her tee shot on the tenth gap down the center of the fairway, Cunningham sliced hers into the crowd. She yelled “Happy Gilmore,” drawing laughs from the gallery.

Trump, for her half, swished a basket from past the free-throw line of an out of doors court close to the first tee while ready to start the pro-am.

Sponsor invites have long been used to entice consideration to a event through a golfer who is from a well-known household or, in current years, has a strong social media presence. Trump qualifies on both counts.

Her 9 million followers mixed on Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube and X embrace teenagers, golf followers and members of her grandfather’s administration such as Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

In addition to posting what she does on and off the course, Trump creates videos of taking part in golf with her grandpa and chronicled their go to to the Ryder Cup. She also not too long ago launched her own sports activities attire and lifestyle model, KT.

“Kai’s broad following and reach are helping introduce golf to new audiences, especially among younger fans,” said Ricki Lasky, the LPGA‘s chief tour business and operations officer.

Beth Ann Nichols, a senior writer a Golfweek, has gone from believing Trump receiving a sponsor into the Annika as a “terrible idea” to a supporter of it. She wrote that her first reaction was that “her game isn’t prepared for this type of highlight; there’s an excessive amount of on the line at the season’s penultimate event to have a circus get away.”

But once the week unfolded she modified her thoughts, believing the President’s grandaughter is sweet for girls’s golf.

“Between the presence of Caitlin Clark in the pro-am and President Donald Trump’s granddaughter in the 108-player field, this might become one of the most talked-about LPGA events in the tour’s 75-year history,” Nichols wrote. “For those who understand how painstakingly tough it is for women’s golf to break through the golf world, let alone the sports world and beyond, these opportunities don’t come often.”

Trump will need to improve her recreation to change into more than a novelty. She completed last among a area of 24 at 52-over par in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in March. Her efficiency Thursday illustrated that while she is strong off the tee, her short recreation wants to develop.

“I don’t think anybody here is thinking that she will be the one holding the trophy on Sunday,” Sorenstam said. “I 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.”

The oldest of the president’s 11 grandchildren, Kai turned identified nationally when she made a speech in help of her grandfather’s marketing campaign at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Her dad and mom, Donald Trump Jr. and Vanessa Trump, divorced in 2018, and her mom has been courting Woods for about a 12 months.