Kai Trump to make LPGA debut at The ANNIKA | Golf Central | Golf Channel

Kai Trump to make LPGA debut at The ANNIKA | Golf Central | Golf Channel

Golf Central on YouTube is brought to you by the new Chrome Tour Golf Ball from Callaway. Good to be with you on this Veterans Day. I’m your host Damon Hack as we settle in for another busy week in the game we love. This week marks the sixth playing of the Anukica driven by Gamebridge which is hosted at the Pelican Golf Club West of Tampa. It is the final event before the season ending CME Group Tour Championship. Nelly Corda has won three of the previous five plays of this event, including last year when she edged out Charlie Hall down the stretch. Corda back to defend her title and Hull back to challenge her. Also in the field are several of the players who call Florida home like Lydia Co and Lexi Thompson. Women’s Open champ Miyu Yumashiat will make her debut in the event as will Lahi W, who’s had a tremendous first year as a professional. But the biggest story from the Pelican Golf Club will be the presence of WNBA superstar Caitlyn Clark, who will play in the ProAm on Wednesday for the second straight year. But there are plenty of other storylines as well as we say hello to Amy Rogers. Hey there, Damon. Yeah, having Caitlyn Clark return again here tomorrow to play in the proam is huge. Uh but it just adds to what is already a big week on the LPGA tour with the Anukica driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. the penultimate event of the LPGA Tour season. And that means players are in crunch mode, especially for those players trying to get into the field next week for the season ending CME Group Tour Championship. Now, the top 60 in the race to the CME Globe after the conclusion of play here on Sunday will earn a spot in the field. players have been earning points all season long. And there are several players that are right on that bubble, right on that cutoff that are here in the field here this week, hoping to make a move to get into the field next week in Naples. That includes Cassie Porter. She is a rookie this season on the LPGA tour, and she is sitting right on the number right at 60. She’s hoping to hang on to that spot in order to qualify for her very first CME Group Tour Championship. Now just inside that cutoff sits Whailing Shei at 59. She had a tie for 42nd last week in Japan to maintain that position. She’ll need another solid week here to stay inside the cutoff. Now Gemma Dryboro is making a late season charge. She jumped six spots last week with a solid finish in Japan. She’ll need another one here if she wants to make a leap into the field next week in Naples. Now currently on the outside looking in sits Lilia Vu. She is at 74 in the race to the CME Globe point standings. She actually won here at the Anuka in 2023 and she’ll be hoping for another good week here to make a move in those standings. Uh also on the outside is Rose Zang. She is at number 87 as she has dealt with a neck injury uh for most of this season. Now for the players that are very much secure inside that top 60, they know they’re going to be playing next week in Naples. Their focus has really shifted at this stage of the season. They’ve been able to start thinking a little bit more about some of those season ending awards. We’re talking about the Rolex Player of the Year, the Rookie of the Year, the Money title, the Bear Trophy. That will all be determined next week at the CME Group Tour Championship. But here on Sunday, the winner of the seasonl long AON riskreward challenge will be determined after play wraps up here on Sunday. Now, as if that isn’t enough, Damon, for these players to be thinking about and and having to consider this week, there’s also a $3.25 million purse up for grabs. That’s one of the biggest outside the major championships. That is a lot of dough, Amy. Another big story for the week, of course, the president’s granddaughter receiving a sponsor’s invite. What should we know? Yeah, that’s right. The Anukica driven by Gamebridge at Pelican has generated a lot of buzz for the event this year, not only with Caitlyn Clark, but by also extending one of their three sponsor exemptions to uh Kai Trump, the granddaughter of President Donald Trump. Uh she’s 18 years old and she will make her LPGA Tour debut here uh later this week. And she’s had a chance to ask some of the games great some advice before she tees it up here uh on Thursday. She played a practice round here earlier this week with the tournament host Anukica Sornstam. And Tiger Woods has also been a sounding board as his son attends the same school uh as Kai Trump and he also uh is in a relationship with her mother. So I asked uh Kai Trump earlier today what sort of tips that she’s uh received from Saen Stam and from Woods uh as well as uh finding out about her preparations, how she’s gone about preparing to compete in her very first LPGA tour event. I’ve been practicing a lot obviously. I mean, every single day I practice. So, just doing that and um kind of playing a lot of games on the golf course actually, believe it or not, because it kind of mimics the pressure that you’d get in real tournament. Um and yeah, I mean, I’ve just been doing a lot of that stuff. So, I’m I’m looking forward to it. What are some of the games you play on the golf course that you think have helped you prepare for this week? Yeah, just some like pressure games where like I’ll be playing matches against my friends or whatever that may look like and it kind of mimics a tournament setting, but obviously you can never get it 100%. But just that type of stuff. As you prepare to make your first start in an LPJ tour event, what are your goals for this week and what you’re hoping to achieve? I mean, my goals this week is just go out there, have fun, and um I’m just looking to literally just have fun out there. Um, obviously it’s a great experience and I’m looking forward to it and um, just go out and have fun and whatever happens happens. You’ve had a chance to speak to some of the greats from Anukica Sora and Sam to Tiger Woods ahead of you teeing it up here this week. What’s the best piece that of advice that you’ve received uh, ahead of this week’s tournament? Uh, best advice is literally go out there and have fun because it’s it’s nerve-wracking. You know, this is my first ever LPJ event. It will be my first ever LPJ event ever. So, it’s kind of like you never get many first or after you do it, you know, you’re not going to get a first ever again. So, just go out there, have fun, um, enjoy it, and just soak it all in and watch all the players around you. What do you do when you manage those nervous situations? What do you lean on? Um, well, when I’m nervous, just kind of taking deep breaths and that’s pretty much it, to be honest. Kai Trump says she expects to feel quite nervous when she steps onto that first tea on Thursday, where she won’t just have the fans looking on, but plenty of secret service, too. Uh earlier today, I had a chance to speak with the director of golf here and the chief operations officer at Pelican Golf Club, Justin Sheen, who said they’ve had countless meetings with the Secret Service ahead of Trump teeing it up here this week. He said they’ve gone a lot over golf etiquette and golf cart etiquette as well uh as they hope to not interfere with the tournament that’s going on while Trump uh is here competing. Um also Sheen added that the president wanted to make sure that his granddaughter was especially secure while competing here in this LPGA tour event. And Kai Trump said today that she does not expect her grandfather and the president to attend here this weekend. David Amy Rogers reporting from outside of Tampa, Florida. A little more now on Kai Trump. She’s currently a high school senior, as Amy told us, in Palm Beach. She’s committed to play her college golf next year at the University of Miami. Her presence at the event will certainly draw attention, but there have been plenty of questions about her game being worthy of an LPGA invite. She is the 461st ranked player in the AJGA Junior Rankings. Welcome, Paige McKenzie. Now, putting the politics aside, your thoughts on giving a sponsor’s exemption to a player who doesn’t have much of a career resume and doing so during a week page where players are trying to earn their way into the Tour Championship. Well, I’m not as concerned as the impact that this would have on other LPGA Tour players because the reality is they’ve had all season long to put themselves in a position to play this week in addition to the players in the field probably welcome an amateur in the field because that will help the purse distribution in their favor. So, I do not think it would ruffle the feathers of the LPGA players. Uh, I think for her, she actually has less to gain publicly and more to gain personally by this experience. Everybody already knows who Kai Trump is. Millions of followers on social media, so I don’t think there’s a lot to gain publicly. In fact, there’s of course the fear of failure in this situation. But I think if she’s approaching it, as I suspect, as a way to get better, uh, we already know that she’s passionate about the game, that she’s going to play collegiately, putting herself in a position to learn from and to see and to test herself against the best in the world, what an incredible opportunity for a young golfer to be able to do that. So, that’s my in general impression is there’s a lot for her to gain personally from this to make herself a excuse me, a better golfer.

Kai Trump, granddaughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, describes her emotions ahead of a “nerve-racking” LPGA debut at The ANNIKA. #golf #golfcentral #golfchannel
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Kai Trump to make LPGA debut at The ANNIKA | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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