Kai Trump’s freshman season at the University of Miami was supposed to be about birdies. Within weeks of her first college tournament, she was flying home to Florida with her arm in a cast and needing her mom’s help to change clothes. The 19-year-old shared the raw details in a new vlog after her second wrist surgery in 2026.
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In the video, Trump says she had wrist surgery to repair an injury from her collegiate debut. Her recovery has been rough from the start. “When I first got my surgery, I couldn’t move my fingers for two days,” she says.
The next day, at her grandmother’s house, she explained how limited she was: “My mom helped me change because I currently cannot change by myself. I have iodine still on my fingers because of the surgery.”
By day three, she had a new problem. “I have the sling right now. I’m just trying to move my shoulder around because my shoulder keeps on spasming. Not fun.”
She also showed the toll of sleeping badly: “It’s at 5:00 a.m. right now. I’ve been up since 4:00 in the morning. I’m just not feeling very good. I’m in some pain. I’m in a lot less pain than the first time around, which is good. But it’s still pain. It’s a little uncomfortable to sleep sometimes.”
She still found moments of normal life. She slept 10 hours one night and squeezed in a quick workout. She visited her old high school and the mall too.
When Did Kai Trump First Suffer Her Injury?
The trouble started at Miami’s first event, the Golfweek Fall Challenge. Kai Trump finished T-102 there. She reportedly felt a sharp jolt in her arm after hitting the ground, then said that on the 10th hole with her driver, “I felt like I tore it again.”
At first, doctors did not think she needed surgery. She instead received a stem cell treatment in Miami. She then played a three-round event in Muncie, Indiana, before the operation.
Surgery came at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. In her statement, she said she made the call after talking with her family, coaches, and athletic trainers, and that she was thankful to Dr. Carlson and the HSS team.
This was not her first operation on the left wrist. On January 7, she announced she’d had surgery to treat injuries to the stabilizing tissues of her ECU tendon and damage to her triangular fibrocartilage complex. Dr. Thomas Graham performed it at the Lehigh Valley Orthopedic Institute. The TFCC is a structure that helps stabilize the wrist and absorb forces passing through the joint.
The timing followed a big moment. Kai Trump had made her LPGA debut as an amateur at The Annika that November. She wore a bandage on her wrist during a podcast interview soon after. By spring, she was back in the gym and described her goal as playing “pain free.”
Reports so far point to this left wrist as her only documented injury, which makes the repeat damage more notable. Kai Trump has not given a return date. Miami’s season runs into mid-May. That leaves time for her to come back this spring if recovery goes well.
For now, her tone stays upbeat. “I’ll be back before you know it, stronger and more grateful than ever,” Kai Trump wrote.
Her biggest test will be whether her wrist holds up once she is back at full speed. A second surgery on the same wrist in one year is a lot for any golfer, and the next few months of rehab will show how ready she is.