Kai Trump strutted onto the tee box with an air of confidence on Friday morning. An omnipresent smile was plastered on her face as she chatted with her caddie, Allan Kournikova. As the announcer introduced her famous name, she stared down the first hole at Pelican Golf Club before splitting the fairway with a thunderous opening drive.
The assured demeanor was an unexpected sight from a player who sat rock-bottom of the leaderboard. Her infectious beam was a rarity for a golfer who, less than 24 hours earlier, had shot 13-over on her LPGA debut.
But as she began the second round of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge tournament in Belleair, Florida, the 18-year-old was the picture of resilience.
Yes, she finished 18-over for the tournament and missed the cut, sitting dead last among the 108-player field, but Kai’s scorecard didn’t portray the full story.
Kai’s sponsor exemption to compete in the professional field had stirred controversy. Some hoped she would provided a much-needed profile boost to women’s golf. Most had hoped she would fail.
The amateur, still only a senior in high school, chose to listen to neither side of the contentious debate. Instead, she turned to one of her biggest supporters: The President of the United States.
Kai Trump missed the cut at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge tournament
The 18-year-old kept a smile plastered on her face throughout her second round
Ahead of her contentious LPGA debut, the teenager had revealed the advice that her grandfather, Donald Trump, had shared. The President told the Frist Granddaughter to simply ‘go out there and have fun.’ On Friday, Kai did just that – and more.
Not only did Kai appear lighter and freer – no longer shackled by the nerves that plagued during Thursday’s first round – but she also delivered a sensational round that both she and the crowd that trailed after her could enjoy.
‘For the first day I was definitely really nervous,’ she said. ‘I 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’s why I played better.’
It took Kai five holes to score her first par during her first round. On Friday, it came at the first hole. If bogeys were the order of the day on Thursday, Kai was serving up a spread of pars and even the occasional birdie.
She finished with eight pars, four birdies, four bogeys, one double and one triple bogey for a five-over 75 – a vast improvement on her opening score.
Yes, her overall score of 18-over has cut her foray into professional golf short, but Kai displayed an impressive range of shots in her arsenal.
Kai sunk her first birdie of the tournament at the par-three third – the very same hole where Caitlin Clark almost decapitated someone with her tee shot in last year’s Pro-Am – after dialing in a crisp iron to within five feet of the pin.
Her best shot of the tournament came at another par-three later in her round when she came within inches of her first ever hole-in-one.
The teenager vastly improved on her first round to shoot a five-over 75 on Friday
Kai maintained an air of confidence despite shooting an opening 13-over the previous day
At the 12th which offered a Lamborghini prize for anyone who found the hole on their first attempt, she took direct aim at the pin. She launched her ball across the water where it landed in front of the hole only to just trickle past the edge of the cup.
The near-miss sent the hundred-strong gallery into a roar of excitement. Among them was her beaming mother, Vanessa Trump, who let out a proud cry of ‘great job, Kai.’
Kai turned to her and quipped, ‘Mom, I’m sorry I didn’t win the car.’ Not that the Trumps – or Vanessa’s boyfriend, Tiger Woods – have any need to win a free Lamborghini.
The only considerable blemish on her card came five holes in when one misfired shot derailed her calm composure. Her approach caught the overhanging branches of a fairway pine, which clipped her ball and sent it flinging back to a mere few yards in front of her. Rattled by the blip, Kai was unable to recover and walked off with a triple bogey.
It may have been far from the seven-under 63 that World No 2 Nelly Korda shot. Or fellow amateur Anne-Sterre den Dunnen’s two-under. But simply teeing it up today was a remarkable display of courage from Kai.
As she stressed multiple times herself throughout the week, she is still only a senior in high school. Despite officially signing with the University of Miami, she has yet to tee it up even at collegiate level and has played a limited schedule of junior golf.
To have had the pluck to compete alongside some of the biggest names in women’s golf was impressive. To show her face again after an opening 13-over was admirable.
‘She’ll never play a more pressure-filled round in her career,’ her future University of Miami assistant coach Jim Garren told The Daily Mail.
Her grandfather, Donald Trump had told her to go out and have fun before the event
Kai, still a senior in high school, had been given a sponsor exemption to the professional event
‘Not only her first start but her first pro start and a big-time event. And she’s coming from junior golf straight to that.
‘She hasn’t even reached our level yet,’ he added referring to the collegiate golf circuit, ‘so it’ll never get harder for her career.’
‘She looked way more comfortable when she got to the tee this morning. She was smiling and laughing,’ he continued.
Kai’s tournament was a tale of two rounds. Where nerves had riddled her game on Thursday, Kai had allowed her grandfather’s words of wisdom to take over on Friday.
And when asked what the first thing she would feed back to the White House would be, Kai offered a simple response that encapsulated the joyous spirit of her round: ‘That I hit a great shot on 18 two days in a row.’
The goal for Kai was never to win the tournament. Anyone who truly expected her to should be made to suffer the pressure of the same impossible standards. No, the goal, as her grandfather put it, was to have fun and not embarrass herself. As Kai’s LPGA experiment came to a close, the teenager could safely say that mission was accomplished.
