Hundreds of female golfers have complained about the participation of Scottish-born transgender player Hailey Davidson in the penultimate stage of the LPGA Tour’s qualifying competition.
Davidson, a 31-year-old professional originally from Ayrshire but now based in Florida, has said that the intention is “to make Scotland proud” by earning a card on the women’s premier circuit.
But after progressing through August’s first stage of Q-School , the former player on a US male college team was accused of acting “unfairly”, with Amy Olson, a two-time major runner-up, railing against Davidson being allowed to compete. “These women have worked too hard and too long to have to stand by and watch a man compete for and take their spot,” she said.
It has now emerged that this view was held by many in the field, with the International Women’s Forum revealing that 275 signed a letter sent to the LPGA, the US Golf Association and the International Golf Federation, urging Davidson’s removal from the tournament.
“We all know there can be no equal athletic opportunity for women without a separate female golf category,” the letter, as reported by sports website OutKick, read. “Yet, the Ladies Professional Golf Association continues to propagate a policy that allows male athletes to qualify, compete and win in women’s golf, even as several national and international governing bodies of sport and state legislatures increasingly reject these unjust and inequitable policies that harm female athletes.
“LPGA policy does not explicitly state eligibility based on sex. It is essential for the integrity and fairness of women’s golf to have a clear and consistent participation policy in place based on a player’s immutable sex. There are differences between the sexes – female and male – that specifically affect our sport of golf.