A total of 246 players will be competing in this week’s LPGA Qualifying Series in hopes of punching their ticket into December’s final stage of qualifying school (Q-School) to earn an opportunity to earn an LPGA card. Among the 246-player field is transgender golfer Hailey Davidson, whose inclusion may align with LPGA’s current gender policy, but not with the vast majority of fellow competitors.
Davidson advanced through the pre-qualifying stage of Q-School in August after finishing in a tie for 42nd and was allowed to do so despite more than 275 female players voicing their concerns over a biological male competing in women’s golf.
LETTER STATED.
They stated: “We all know there can be no equal athletic opportunity for women without a separate female golf category… We deserve to strive for these rewards with a policy that recognizes fair and equitable competition for women.” Davidson advanced and is competing this week in the LPGA Qualifying series.
As the Independent Women’s Forum shared with OutKick, over 275 female golfers sent a letter to the LPGA, United States Golf Association (USGA), and the International Golf Federation (IGF) on August 19, three days before the opening round of the pre-qualifying stage of Q-School.
Those letters clearly fell on deaf ears with the LPGA allowing Davidson to compete and advance in pre-qualifying, taking an opportunity away from a biological female in the tournament field.
The LPGA and USGA have both adopted gender policies that deem biological male competitors eligible to compete against biological females if they have undergone gender reassignment surgery and met hormonal therapy requirements. Davidson meets eligibility requirements after reportedly undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2021.
One of the professional golfers driving this movement in women’s golf is Lauren Miller, who has had to compete against Davidson in the past. Miller joined OutKick’s Dan Dakich earlier this month explaining the absurdity of the situation.
“There is no world where I ever thought this would be the case,” Miller told Dakich. “I’ve been talking to my parents about it, and they can’t believe they have a daughter who is having to go through this. It’s truly shocking to realize kind of where we are today and that this is the state of the world.”
As pointed out in the letter, hundreds of female golfers do not accept the so-called reality and align with Miller.
“We all know there can be no equal athletic opportunity for women without a separate female golf category. Yet, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) 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,” the letter reads in part.
Traditional LPGA policy does not define conditions for membership by reference to sex. For the sake ofpecially the fairness of the women’s golf careers it is necessary to have the definite and non-ambiguous Participation policy that will fully ents on the player’s sex. The letter continues as follows: “However, there are differences between the sexes—female and male—that Specifically affect our sport of golf,”
In reference to sport, a 30% difference when it comes to the driving of the ball is approximate; this a clear revelation of the fact that there is a huge gender difference in the aspects affecting sports. Sex organ distinctions impact club head velocity and consistency control at ball striking. Female athletes experience greater physiological stress during play and have a higher mean heart rate especially when exercising at high altitude. That is a myth Maybe hormones that bring out difference in anatomical structures are not suppressed or reduced with male testosterone. It is impossible to ‘make’ a man into a woman, or vice versa. For the first time MSGMA asserts that being female is not equivalent to being male at a weaker strength level.
The letter also contains several more points of quantitative character comparing male and female golfers before turning to two requests that over 275 female players in the letter want to see LPGA and other bodies regulating the sport change.
“Eliminate all policies and regulations which permit male golfers to compete in women’s golf tournaments; and develop and implement the right of female LPGA professionals to compete in women-only golf based on sex must be confined to those in the female gender only.”
The letter ends with the same emphatic note by articulating the desires that the governing bodies of golf should look at its female participants.