Kai Trump’s opening 83 in her LPGA debut serves as a powerful reminder

Thursday was a great day for tour golf in general and the LPGA in particular. Korean golfer Haeran Ryu shot a perfect first-round 64 in a tournament named for Annika Sorenstamplayed on a beautiful open bayside course near Clearwater, Fla. One shot behind her was Australia’s Grace Kim.

This is the last full-field event (108 players) of the LPGA season, the last chance to qualify for the grand final, the CME Group Tour Championship, where 60 players will compete for a $4 million winner’s check, the biggest prize in women’s golf; the runner-up will win $1 million. Rose Zhangalumnus of Stanford and in her second full year on tour, is a bubble girl for the tour championship. Watch out, folks: Exploding stories! Would you know these things if When TrumpThe 18-year-old high school golfer and Donald Trump’s granddaughter weren’t on the field as a sponsor exception? Maybe not. But she is, and many of us are taking notice where else I can’t help it.

Trump shot an 83 in the first round. No one shot higher.

And therein lies the true beauty of the day. Kai Trump received one of three special sponsor invitations to play in the Gainbridge-driven Annika at Pelican (lady/sponsor/course). Would she have gotten the invite if her paternal grandfather wasn’t the president of the United States and if she didn’t have more than 7 million followers on her various social media platforms? No. Does her presence at this tournament bring some added attention to the LPGA, as tour sponsors hoped? yes. That’s not where the beauty lies. The beauty lies in the powerful memory of the golf tournament: the results. The results!

If Kai Trump is ever to become an LPGA player, her stated goal, she’ll have to do what every LPGA player does, and that’s score to win — for her win! – her country. Full stop. This is why millions of us are drawn to golf. There is no place to hide. You can tell IG stories until you’re green in the face, but it doesn’t really matter. In tournament golf — especially the professional golf we watch in person and whatever screen is nearby — your day can always be summed up by a number. For Haeran Ryu on Thursday, that number was 64, six under par. For Kai Trump, this number was 83, 13 above the norm.

“I was definitely more nervous than I expected,” Trump told reporters shortly after her round ended. Certainly an honest assessment. “I hit a lot of good shots just in the wrong spots.” A comment you might expect to hear from a top high school golfer. You’re unlikely to hear from a pro on tour.

Trump attends the Benjamin School in South Florida. Sam Woods, the oldest child of Elin Nordegren and Tiger Woods, is in her class. Charlie Woods is on the boys team there. Kai Trump took pep-talk advice by her grandfather, by Tiger Woods (her mother’s boyfriend), by Annika Sorenstam. She has access to the best golf instructors, fitness experts, equipment fitters, manufacturers, courses, practice facilities and more. If Trump wants to make it in professional golf, she’ll have to rise above it all. It won’t be easy.

“I feel sorry for the rich kids now, I really do,” Ben Hogan said in 1983. “Because they’ll never have the chance that I had. I know hard things and I’ve had hard days all my life, and I can handle hard things. They can’t.”

Tournament organizers did not hide why Trump was invited to play in the event. It wasn’t because of her off-the-charts talent. There are likely thousands of teenage golfers around the world who are better than Trump. It’s because of her bloodline and the social media reach that has sprung from her.

“This is one of the most talked about women’s golf tournaments that has probably ever existed,” Justin Sheehan, chief operating officer of Pelican Golf Club. he said shortly after Trump’s invitation was made public at the end of last month. “The numbers of impressions on social media are staggering. Love it or hate it, it’s getting people talking about the event.”

This is a new day in golf’s long-standing custom of offering sponsor exemptions to golfers, amateur or professional, who can help gate and broadly improve the tournament. When Tony Romoa low-level golfer who played in PGA Tour events as an amateur playing as a sponsor’s invitational, the built-in question was: What is the difference between a former elite NFL quarterback who plays good golf and a PGA Tour player?

In other words, it was his athletic ability and the fame that came from it that earned him a brief stint on the PGA Tour. When Sorenstam played in a PGA Tour event, the same basic math: What can one of golf’s greatest players do when playing against men? It was her athletic ability and the fame that came with it that earned her an invitation to the 2003 Colonial.

Kai Trump isn’t famous for her athletic gifts (though she hit an impressive 20-footer on the back of the rim on the first tee of Wednesday’s pro-am on her first and only shot). She is famous because of her DNA. It’s another thing. It’s a different era.

When Trump was invited to play in the event, the invitation did not go directly to Trump, her mother or father, or her high school coach. She went to her agents. She is represented by GSE Worldwide, the same agency that represents many LIV Golf players. Her asking price for a single video post on Instagram is $125,000. She is developing her own line of merchandise. Will her two days – there is a 36-hole cut in the 72-hole event – at the Gainbridge-run Annika at Pelican hurt business, no matter what scores she shoots? Not likely.

The levels of union here are staggering. Donald Trump, in his first term, awarded Tiger Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom shortly after Woods won the 2019 Masters. There is also a Tiger Woods villa at Trump Doral in Miami. When Trump hosted an LPGA event at his West Palm Beach course, he played in the pro-am with Sorenstam, then the top women’s golfer. On January 7, 2021, Sorenstam, along with Gary Player, also received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump. Woods, among others, met with Trump at the White House in hopes of resolving the ongoing dispute and tension between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Trump was an early supporter of the LIV Golf cause. One of his golf buddies is LIV star and two-time US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau, who is also represented by GSE Worldwide.

So much synergy!

But synergy cannot turn an 80 putter into a 70 putter. The golfer shoots what the golfer shoots. The rest is commentary.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com