Before Kai Trump even teed off in her first LPGA Tour event, it was evident that she was not yet accustomed to the sport’s biggest stages.
Trump, the 18-year-old granddaughter of the president, is participating in her first professional event this week as a sponsor exemption in The Annika at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.
Her first round didn’t exactly go as planned on Thursday, with a few minor missteps at the first tee box before she even had the chance to hit her first ball. There was a certain ritual to how the seasoned LPGA Tour pros began their round, but Trump was clearly not privy to the protocol.
Trump was one of three players with a 12:31 tee time off the 10th hole at Pelican, but unlike her competitors, she arrived at the 10th hole about 12 minutes early, just as the group ahead of her was still being announced and teeing off.
As Saki Baba, Gurleen Kaur, and A Lim Kim were starting their round, a large contingent of Secret Service agents began to occupy the 10th tee box. Meanwhile, Trump hugged her mom Vanessa – ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr. and girlfriend of Tiger Woods – and other members of her party before slipping under the ropes just after the previous group departed.
Trump was left awkwardly waiting on the tee box, positioned on the left side, until her playing partners joined her about five minutes ahead of schedule.
Hinako Shibuno and Olivia Cowan arrived and took their places on the right side of the tee box a few yards behind the markers, as previous groups had done.
However, Trump and her caddie stayed on the opposite side, almost level with where her opponents would be teeing off from.
Shibuno and Cowan then proceeded with their pre-round routine, greeting each other, Trump, and the group’s caddies before introducing themselves to the tournament official and volunteer scoreboard holder who would accompany the group throughout the round.
Trump seemed to miss the memo about that last part, ignoring the workers she’d be spending the next several hours with as she nervously looked on.
