Opinion: Why sponsors exemptions in golf are not always a good idea

Kai Trump (YouTube)

The biggest news in golf this week is not who is in first place at the Annika. It is who is in last. While Australia’s Grace Kim (the 2025 Evian Championship winner) and Haeran Ryu of South Korea should have generated the headlines by both shooting a score of -6, it was the golfer who was in 108th place out of 108 golfers who generated the headlines.

There is no question that Kai Trump, granddaughter of American president Donald Trump, has the potential to be a good golfer. The question is, is she a LPGA caliber golfer? Should she have got a sponsor’s exemption to the second last LPGA event of the season?

Exemptions are not always bad. However, they should only be reserved for athletes who have made their mark on the sport. They should be reserved for athletes that have a Hall of Fame resume, and are an icon.

Kia Trump has the potential to be very good. She is in the process of learning to be very good. Trump is going to be enrolled at the University of Miami and will play collegiate golf. One must realize being a golfer at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level is drastically different than being a golfer at the LPGA level.

Trump’s participation at the Annika this week is generating interest. The LPGA website crashed on Friday morning. Now, the reason might have been because of technical difficulties, or the association was unprepared for a whole bunch of people trying to see how Trump is doing.

What we saw from Trump on Thursday is that she has a lot to learn. She posted a score of +13, and is 19 shots off the lead. It will be interesting to see the adjustments that are made by Trump heading into round two on Friday.