BELLEAIR, Florida – Annika Sorenstam saw Kai Trump play for the first time on Monday during a quiet, closed-to-the-public pro-am. The 10-time major winner joined Trump on the back nine at Pelican Golf Club, and by the third hole, 18-year-old Trump was asking Sorenstam questions about her swing.
“I was talking to her about my tendencies and said, what are your tendencies, and she went off and this is what I do and I’m trying to do that,” recalled Sorenstam during a pre-tournament press conference at her namesake event, The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.
Sorenstam took it all in, but refrained from giving any feedback given that the biggest round of Trump’s young golfing life was only days away. The scouting report on Trump is that she hits the ball high and drives it well. Trump, who heads to Miami next fall to play college golf, knows she needs to work on her putting and her short game.
Distance isn’t going to be an issue, Sorenstam continued, but Thursday will be a big scene for Trump. Not that she isn’t used to big scenes as the eldest granddaughter of President Donald Trump. Sorenstam has decided that young Trump, who came across confident and deeply appreciative, must be “super tough” on the inside.
“I’m sure we can all relate what it’s like to get criticism here and there, but she gets it a thousand times,” said Sorenstam.
“So that’s why I just want to give her a break, come out here and have fun. We want her to feel like family here and I want her to feel welcome. I mean, give this girl a chance, right? I think that’s our responsibility this week.”
Sorenstam’s name is on the event, but she wasn’t the one who extended the invitation. That came from the host, Pelican Golf Club, owned by the Doyle family. The Doyles first decided they wanted to host an LPGA event before the course officially reopened. The first Pelican Women’s Championship launched in 2020 with no fans due to the COVID pandemic. Dan Doyle, Jr. called it the perfect dress rehearsal.
The event started out strong and grew stronger when Gainbridge and Sorenstam came onboard in 2023, making it one of the premiere stops on the LPGA calendar. Last year, Caitlin Clark brought an enormous amount of buzz at the Wednesday pro-am. The WNBA star is back this year alongside Trump, one of 108 players in the star-studded field.
The course will be open to fans starting on Wednesday. Clark heads out with three-time Pelican champ and World No. 2 Nelly Korda at 8:30 a.m. local time while Trump goes off at 10:20.
“The idea of the exemption, when you go into the history of exemptions, is to bring attention to an event,” said Doyle when explaining the club’s decision. “She’s a lovely – I mean, you got see her live. She’s lovely to speak to and she brought a lot of viewers through Instagram and things like that that normally don’t watch women’s golf … so it’s created a buzz on top of the other great players that we have here.”
Sorenstam, the winningest LPGA player in the modern era, knows what it’s like to receive a controversial sponsor invitation. One came her way in 2003 when she was invited to compete on the PGA Tour at Colonial. Sorenstam had won 43 LPGA titles, including four majors, when she accepted the offer to compete against the men, and yet the reaction she received was nothing short of overwhelming.
“All of a sudden it felt like the whole world had an opinion about my game and why should a woman play in a PGA event,” recalled Sorenstam. “There was a lot of thoughts out there and comments out there. I think what was most interesting is people that never really covered golf, especially women’s golf, all of a sudden they were experts in my game.
“It’s one of those things you take it personally and then you giggle because all of a sudden now you’re engaged. So that was kind of funny. I just tried to look at it as I’m thankful for the opportunity. Probably not going to get another one, you know, so make the most out of it. I’ve always felt like a little bit of a responsibility to carry women’s golf once I became No. 1 in the world, and that was an opportunity.”
Sorenstam had sports world on edge for two rounds, ultimately missing the cut by four. She successfully defended her title the next week at the LPGA Kellogg-Keebler Classic followed by two more major championship titles that summer. She’d go on to win 72 titles on the LPGA before retiring five years later to start a family.
For Trump, competing on the LPGA is a childhood dream. She’s been playing golf since age 2 and, as she grew, was drawn to the game’s endless pursuit of perfection. Her biggest event to date was the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley last spring, when she carded rounds of 89-79-83-89.
“I didn’t play so well, but I think I learned a lot in that tournament not playing well,” Trump said. “I learned a lot about my game, what I have to work on, where I have to be.”
Trump said her grandfather won’t be coming this week, noting that he’s “running the world right now, so a little busy.”
The idea of the Trump invitation came from a text conversation between Dan Doyle, Jr.’s son, Danny, and Justin Sheehan, director of golf and COO at Pelican about six months ago.
The phone calls with Trump’s team about logistics started about a month ago, and in recent weeks there have been a number of in-person meetings with Trump’s protection detail, making sure among other things, the Secret Service knew where to drive during competition.
Sheehan has played with Trump twice now and said it wouldn’t take a lot for her to be really good.
“I actually do think she can be really good, I’m not just saying that,” said Sheehan. “Very impressed with the way she drives it. Yesterday, on 15, she hit an awesome hybrid. Wind is 30 mph left to right – hits a hybrid to 10 feet.”
Trump reports that she doesn’t have an instructor right now but has a few people watch over her game. It’s not a stretch to imagine that one of those people is Tiger Woods, who announced on social media earlier this year that he was dating Kai’s mother, Vanessa.
“He told me to go out there and have fun and just go with the flow,” said Trump when asked about Woods. “Whatever happens, happens.”
Her grandfather mostly said the same, adding to try not to be too nervous.
When asked how Kai should define success this week, Sorenstam said she doesn’t believe anyone here thinks she’ll be the one holding the trophy on Sunday night.
“There will be lessons learned. Take them to the future and learn. That’s how we grow,” said Sorenstam, adding, “Just come out here and absorb, meet players, enjoy the atmosphere and the course, and just maybe make new friends; you know, create memories with your family.
“And then you go out there and do your best. That’s really all she can do and I think that’s all anybody would love to see. So I wish her the best. We’ve offered to help her in different ways. I mean, I’m very impressed with her, as of many others that are here. I want women’s golf to succeed, so we can either do this together or we can not.
“I choose the first one.”
