Kai Trump To Make Controversial LPGA Debut at The Annika

The LPGA announced on Tuesday that Kai Trump, the granddaughter of President Donald Trump, will play alongside the best golfers in the world when she tees it up in two weeks as a sponsor's invite at the ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. How you feel about it probably depends on how you feel about sponsor exemptions, politics mingling with sports, or both.

Ricki Lasky, LPGA Chief Tour Business and Operations Officer, noted in the Tour's press release that, "Sponsor invitations are an important way to spotlight emerging talent and bring new attention to our tournaments and the LPGA.”

If it's attention they wanted, they're getting it in spades.

Trump's Instagram post of the announcement Tuesday morning, in collaboration with the LPGA, already has more engagement than any of the Tour's posts from its worldwide team match play event last week, the International Crown. Trump boasts 2.5 million followers on the app and millions more on other social media sites. If you combine Nelly Korda and Charley Hull's followers on Instagram, you'd still be well short of Trump's following.

The LPGA Tour desperately needs more attention. It hasn't been a frontrunner in the women's sports movement and failed to capitalize last year when Nelly Korda dominated the sport. If there's one tournament that's an exception to that notion, though, it's the ANNIKA. As the name suggests, it's hosted by 10-time major winner Annika Sorenstam. Last year, Sorenstam and Korda joined forces with WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark in the tournament's Wednesday pro-am. The result was a rare moment when the LPGA broke out of its niche golf bubble and made waves in the general sports world. Clark will be back this year to play in the pro-am, giving the ANNIKA more attention than almost every other event on the LPGA's calendar.

The other purpose of the invite, according to Lasky, is to spotlight emerging talent. As a whole, the LPGA's sponsors do a good job of showcasing up-and-coming players. The ANNIKA's other sponsor exemptions, Anne-Sterre den Dunnen and Lauryn Nguyen, are both seniors at Wake Forest and Northwestern, respectively. Northwestern is the defending NCAA champion, and Wake Forest took the title in 2023. Kai Trump is still a high school senior and is committed to the University of Miami, currently the 73rd-ranked team in the country.

Trump's most notable tournament appearance up to this point was participating in the exclusive Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in March. It was another special invitation that got her in the 24-person field of the top juniors in the world. As the 151st-ranked girls golfer in Florida at the time, it was not surprising to see Trump struggle to a last-place finish.

If spotlighting emerging talent was the purpose of this invite, the LPGA, Gainbridge, and Sorenstam bypassed hundreds of more qualified options.

You couldn't pick a worse time in the schedule for a gimmicky invite. The Tour will be returning from its fall Asian Swing, which consists of limited-field, no-cut events. The ANNIKA will also have fewer players than normal. The usual 120-person field will be reduced as a result of struggling to finish multiple rounds before sunset last year. For players hovering around the top 100 in the Race to the CME Globe points, the ANNIKA is the last opportunity to secure their card for next year. Players around the top 60 aren't concerned about their cards, but are trying to grab a spot in the Tour's final event, the CME Group Tour Championship. Boasting a $4 million winner's check, the tournament offers a truly life-changing opportunity for those who qualify.

When used the right way, sponsor invites can be a bright spot for the Tour and its partners. The Bank of Utah has to be pretty pleased with how Michael Brennan used his invite last week on the PGA Tour. Things worked out nicely for KPMG when it invited amateur Lottie Woad to play in the Women's Irish Open this summer. Those are both outliers, of course. More often than not, invitees become trunk slammers by Friday evening.

When there is no balance between attention-seeking and promoting young talent, sponsor exemptions are a black eye for pro golf. The ANNIKA will be the LPGA's best-performing tournament in terms of social media engagement. Clearly that's an important factor for the Tour. When the stakes for its actual members are at their highest, is the stunt worth it?