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President Donald Trump’s grandson Kai Trump improved on a tough first day of her LPGA debut.
In her encore at The Annika Friday, she improved by eight strokes compared to her performance on Thursday.
After she finished playing Friday, Trump said she felt more “peaceful” compared to Thursday, which led to the improvement.
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Amateur Kai Trump of the United States lines up his putt on the 15th green during the first round of The Annika at Pelican Golf Club on November 13, 2025 in Belleair, Fla. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
“The first day I was definitely really nervous. I think the nerves just got to me,” she said. “When I went out there today, I felt very calm and peaceful, to be honest with you. That’s why I played better.
“I did everything I possibly could have done for this tournament. So I think if you prepare right, the nerves … they’re always going to be there, right? They can soften a little bit. So I’ll just say that.”
Trump’s “peaceful” mindset may have paid off as she made a series of early blunders on the third, fourth and fifth holes, but recovered to birdie three of her next six holes.
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“Things are going to happen. Once it happens, you can’t go back in time and fix it,” she said of the triple. “The best thing I could do is move on. Like I told my caddy, Allan, kind of just started laughing. It is what it is. We got it out of the way, so let’s just move on. It was pretty easy to move on after that.”
Still, she finished last in the 108-player field and will not make the cut to continue in the tournament this weekend. She finished with a two-round total of 18-over 158, putting her 27 shots behind leader Grace Kim (65-66) and 17 away from the expected cut-line of one over par.
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Amateur Kai Trump tees off the 16th tee during the first round of The Annika at Pelican Golf Club on November 13, 2025 in Belleair, Fla. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
But Trump’s performance was praised by women’s golf star Charley Hull, a supporter of the president.
“It’s really good considering this is not just an easy LPGA event. This is probably one of the harder courses we play,” Hull said of Trump, per Golf Channel.
“So for her to come out, she had to be so nervous. It was her first LPGA event. I remember my first event. I was really nervous and she has a lot of pressure on her and a lot of eyes on her.”
