NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump’s granddaughter Kai Trump improved on a rough first day of her LPGA debut.
In her encore at The Annika Friday, she improved by eight strokes compared to her performance Thursday.
After she was done playing Friday, Trump said she felt more “peaceful” compared to Thursday, which led to the improvement.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Amateur Kai Trump of the United States lines up her putt on the 15th green during the first round of The Annika at Pelican Golf Club Nov. 13, 2025, in Belleair, Fla. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
“For the first day I was definitely really nervous. I think the nerves just got to me,” she said. “When I went out there today, I felt very calm and peaceful, to be honest with you. That’s why I played better.
“I did everything I could possibly have done for this tournament. So, I think if you prepare right, the nerves can … they’re always going to be there, right? They can be a little softened. So, I would just say that.”
Trump’s “peaceful” mindset may have paid off when she made a series of early blunders on the third, fourth and fifth holes but recovered to birdie three of her next six holes.
WNBA STAR CAITLIN CLARK RETURNS TO GOLF SPOTLIGHT WITH APPEARANCE AT LPGA’S THE ANNIKA PRO-AM
“Things are going to happen. Once it happens, you can’t go back in time and fix it,” she said of the triple. “The best thing I could do is move on. Like I told my caddie, Allan, kind of just started laughing. It is what it is. We got that out of the way, so let’s just move on. It was pretty easy to move on after that.”
Still, she finished in last place in the 108-player field and will not make the cut to continue in the tournament over the weekend. She finished with a two-round total of 18-over 158, putting her 27 shots behind leader Grace Kim (65-66) and 17 away from the projected cut line at one over par.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Amateur Kai Trump walks from the 16th tee during the first round of The Annika at Pelican Golf Club Nov. 13, 2025, in Belleair, Fla. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
But Trump’s performance earned the praise of women’s golf star Charley Hull, a supporter of the president.
“That’s really good considering this is not just an easy LPGA event. This is probably one of the harder courses that we play on,” Hull said of Trump, per Golf Channel.
“So, for her to come out, she had to be so nervous. It was her first LPGA event. I remember my first event. I was really nervous, and she’s got a lot of pressure on her and a lot of eyes on her.”
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.