gg5, chujiten
物議を醸し	45,182	54.3%	
物議をかもし	38,078	45.7%

Outside of prenominal use, "to be controversial" isn't the most suitable translation so I don't think it should lead.

@@ -5,0 +6,3 @@
+</k_ele>
+<k_ele>
+<keb>物議をかもす</keb>
@@ -12,0 +16 @@
+<gloss>to cause controversy</gloss>
@@ -14 +18,3 @@
-<gloss>to cause controversy</gloss>
+<gloss>to arouse criticism</gloss>
+<gloss>to raise a storm</gloss>
+<gloss>to cause a stir</gloss>

ngrams
物議を醸し	45182	  
物議を醸す	8975	

Google translate, if you drop "物議を醸す" alone in the box, spits out "controversial".

If you look at the entries here, there are more than 50 distinct collocations glossed as "controversial".  (this is quite unusual for this source to have so many)
https://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=物議を醸す
Just a few examples:
controversial decision
controversial essay
controversial comments
controversial concept
controversial content
a controversial subject matter
controversial drama

If you look at reverso, it's almost entirely pre-nominal use, glossed as "controversial". (even not pre-nominal, it tends to get to turn into "controversial").
https://context.reverso.net/translation/japanese-english/物議を醸す
https://context.reverso.net/translation/japanese-english/物議を醸した

Google news, at least 50% of 物議を醸す use is prenominal.

Saw an attempt to add "controversial" as an adjective in 2017(Rejected (id: 1951831)).  It seems this was not without some merit. (see refs)

Seems this can be done with a simple "to be controversial" (a la 役に立つ - "to be useful").

I removed "a" from "to cause a controversy".  Both are grammatical and have their uses, but compare google hits:
"Trump caused controversy when"  many pages of results
"Trump caused a controversy when" 6 results
"The ruling caused controversy"  27 individual results
"The ruling caused a controversy" zero results

This seems consistent with 物議 as general public outcry. This use of "controversy" is as "a lot of public disagreement", not "a specific controversial event". 

"to give rise to hostile comment" is not incorrect, but it also doesn't seem likely to be used as a real-world gloss.

I can't find evidence for "to provoke", or see how this would work in a sentence. "He provoked her".... ?  eij was the source.  Was this "to provoke controversy"? Or maybe the adjective "provocative" (as in  "a provocative/controversial art installation").

There is some *minimal* support online(ie. random blogs) for glossing 物議を醸す as "provocative", but there are better Japanese words for this.  I generally encounter 挑発的 when looking, such as here(which uses both):
https://www.vanilla-gallery.com/archives/2019/20191126ab.html
...exploring provocative, controversial and surreal international artists.
...物議を醸す挑発的な現代美術の主要アーティスト

Adding "to be provocative" here just muddies the waters for both entries (物議を醸す and 挑発的).

@@ -13,4 +13,2 @@
-<gloss>to arouse criticism</gloss>
-<gloss>to provoke</gloss>
-<gloss>to cause a controversy</gloss>
-<gloss>to give rise to hostile comment</gloss>
+<gloss>to be controversial</gloss>
+<gloss>to cause controversy</gloss>

@@ -13 +12,0 @@
-<gloss>to give rise to hostile comment</gloss>
@@ -16,0 +16 @@
+<gloss>to give rise to hostile comment</gloss>