Kai Trump Reveals Her 'Favorite Part' of College as She Navigates New Life on University of Miami's Golf Team

Kai Trump already found something to make her feel at home at the University of Miami.

In a recent Q&A video on her YouTube channel, President Donald Trump’s 19-year-old granddaughter expressed exactly that, stating, "My favorite part of college so far honestly is having my team.”

She went on to explain how central the University of Miami women's golf team has been to her freshman experience.

She shared that her college experience would feel completely different without them.

“I don't think I would like it nearly as much without them. They're just so amazing,” she said.

The team spends hours together every day practicing, but they also choose to hang out, get dinner, and bond outside of golf naturally without feeling forced.

“We hang out every single day outside of golf, and it's not forced at all. We genuinely all love each other and want to hang out. We're always getting dinner, always together, and it's just amazing,” she said.

She credited her head coach, Janice Olivencia, for intentionally fostering that positive, tight-knit team spirit from the start.

"Our coach did a great job picking everyone because we all match so well,” she said.

A former standout collegiate golfer at the University of Texas, Olivencia has built a reputation for high-level recruiting and for building disciplined, statistics-driven programs.

When Kai officially signed her National Letter of Intent to play for the Miami Hurricanes, Olivencia was vocal about what Kai brings to the university, calling her a "multi-sport athlete with a strong competitive spirit and a true love for the game."

Kai’s collegiate golf debut at the 2026 Golfweek Fall Challenge in South Carolina met significant athletic struggles and public criticism. Competing individually for the University of Miami Hurricanes, she shot rounds of 78, 76, and 81 to finish 22 over par, tying for 102nd out of 120 competitors.

Golf analysts pointed out a critical mistake that severely hampered her debut. Early in the tournament at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, Kai accidentally struck the ground unexpectedly hard right next to a cart path.

She received criticism for a lack of course awareness in taking a hard swing so close to a cart path, especially given that she had just undergone major surgery on that exact left wrist earlier in the year.

The impact aggravated her previous ligament and cartilage damage, causing her game to deteriorate.

"Kai Trump is a scratch golfer. She is ranked in the Top 500 of the junior women's golf rankings. Typically, those kinds of players don't always make it to the top level of women's golf, though she obviously has more going for her than most players,” said sports writer Andrew Holleran.