Kay Trump, a high school senior playing on the LPGA Tour for reasons beyond her ability to hit a golf ball, went from “definitely very nervous” in the first round on Thursday to “very calm and calm” on Friday in the second round.
Overall, an impressive improvement.
However, Trump, 18, did not make the final list, not after finishing last among 108 players with a total of 18 shots above par in two rounds, 27 shots behind leader Grace Kim and 17 outside the expected cut line. President Trump’s granddaughter improved eight strokes to a 75 in the second round of a tournament hosted by Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam at Pelican Golf Club in Bellaire, Florida.
How dramatic is the upgrade? Trump had nine bogeys, two doubles and one birdie on Thursday. A day later, she was briefly under par when she birdied the third hole, but bogeyed the fourth hole and a three-pointer on the fifth hole.
Trump rebounded to birdie three of her next six holes. How comfortable was she? I literally laughed at her triple bogey.
“Things will happen,” she said. “Once that happens, you can’t go back in time and fix it. The best thing I can do is move forward. Like I told my carrier, Alan [Kournikova]I just started laughing, “It is what it is.”
“We got that out of the way, so let’s move on. It was pretty easy to move on after that.”
Especially on the 12th where she almost achieved the first hole-in-one of her life.
“I hit hard on it,” Trump said. “I tried not to get too high because of the wind. Yes, it was a great shot.”
What will she tell her grandfather about the tour? “I achieved a great goal 12 days in a row.”
“I did everything I could do in this tournament, so I think if you prepare properly, the nerves can always be there, right?” she said. “It could be toned down a bit. So I would just say that.”
Critics among her nearly 9 million social media followers have been relentless in pointing out her apparent privilege Secure a sponsor invitation. Dan Doyle Jr., owner of Pelican Golf Club, happily admitted that Trump’s inclusion had less to do with ability and more to do with public relations.
“The idea of an exemption, when you go into the history of exemptions, is to draw attention to an event,” Doyle told reporters this week. “You have to see her live, she’s nice to talk to.
“It brought in a lot of viewers through Instagram, things like that, who wouldn’t normally watch women’s golf. That was the hope. And we’re seeing that now.”
Trump attends The Benjamin School in Palm Beach and will attend the University of Miami next year. Ranked No. 461 by the American Junior Golf Assn.
The climb up to the LPGA, complete with a large gallery of spectators and phalanxes of Secret Service agents surrounding it, could have been daunting. However, Trump said the experience was “pretty cool.”
It’s been an eventful week for Trump. Nine holes of the Pro Tour were played Monday with tournament host Sorenstam, who sympathized with the difficulty of dealing with the intense swirl of criticism and support.
“I don’t know how you do it, honestly,” Sorenstam said. “For her to be 18 and hear all the comments, she must be so tough on the inside. I’m sure we can all relate to what it’s like to get criticism here and there, but she gets it thousands of times.”
Sorenstam recalled her own exemption from the Bank of America Colonial in 2003 when she became the first woman to play in a men’s PGA Tour event in 58 years. She made a 14-foot putt on the 18th green to give her a 36-hole total of five-over 145. She threw her golf ball into the fairway, wiped away her tears and was hugged by her husband, David Esch.
“That was probably a controversial call at the time,” Sorenstam said. “Ultimately, I definitely appreciate it. It brings attention to the tournament and the sport and women’s sports, which I think is what we want.”