Trans Woman Hailey Davidson To Join The LPGA Tour
August 24, 2022Hailey Davidson may be the first out trans golfer to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour, as LGBTQ Nation writes. But she’s facing criticism from those who claim that her trans identity gives her an unfair advantage.
Currently ranked 59th out of 310 golfers after the first two rounds of the LPGA and Epson Tour Qualifying School (Q-school), if she scores under 88 in round three and remains among the top 100 players, Davidson could advance to the second and final qualifying matches for the full LPGA tour.
The LPGA informed Davidson last June that she was eligible to compete in the Q-school after she underwent gender confirmation surgery and completed at least one year of hormonal therapy.
Davidson’s rise in the LPGA has made her a target for criticism. Judy Murray, tennis coach and mother of former world number one Andy Murray, tweeted earlier this month when referencing Davidson’s Q-school progress: “No. Not fair at all. Protect women’s sport. Listen to the facts, the scientists and the medics. This is wrong.”
Studies are yet to conclude whether biological changes caused by puberty give trans women advantages over cis women in all sports that can’t be negated by hormone replacement therapy. Despite this, numerous people and right-wing commenters have claimed that trans women are dominating women’s sports, even though very few trans women win at professional sports and no professional sport has ever become dominated by transgender women.
“I guess that’s what frustrates me the most,” Davidson told GolfWeek in 2021. “If I play bad, then people will feel justified, ‘Oh well, she played bad and wasn’t good enough,’” she said. “If I do anything good, it won’t be because of the fact that I put my whole life into this – it would be because I’m trans.”
In July, Davidson told the Like It Is podcast that people who oppose trans women in sports aren’t actually concerned about sports science or “protecting women’s sports,” they’re just transphobic.
Davidson underwent gender confirmation surgery in January 2021. In May 2021, she became the first trans woman ever to win a professional US tournament when she won the National Women’s Golf Association (NWGA) mini-tour event at Providence Golf Club in Polk County, Florida. Davidson now holds three golf titles.
Davidson is actually the second known out trans golfer to compete in the LPGA’s Q-school. The first was Bobbi Lancaster, a 63-year-old physician who ended up becoming a speaker on human rights issues rather than a LPGA tour member. Lancaster said that, while playing in the Q-school in 2013, a caddie told her that other women didn’t want to play with her because she “didn’t belong.”
Lancaster now serves as a mentor to Davidson.
“I’ve tried to give her a sneak peek of what it was like to be accused of being a cheater, to have an unfair advantage,” Lancaster said. “Those complaints might happen. It obviously didn’t dissuade me from taking a run at it. But I never got much pushback because I just didn’t play as well as the other elite players. I was just too old.”
Davidson told Outsports, “I don’t think I could do this without what Bobbi did. I wouldn’t have any chance in the golf world without what Bobbi’s done.”
Read related myGwork articles here:
Student Sues University After Women’s Golf Coach Allegedly Outed Her To The Entire Team
Trans Golf Coach Forced To Leave Major Event Following Abuse From Spectators
Scots Golfer Makes History As First Trans Woman To Win Professional US Tournament
British Pro Golfer Mel Reid Comes Out
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