Pro ‘praying’ for change to LPGA gender rules

Professional golfer Olivia Schmidt has joined calls for the LPGA to change its gender participation policy to “protect female players”.

Hailey Davidson’s bid to become the first transgender golfer to play on the LPGA Tour earlier this year came shortly after a letter was signed by 275 female golfers calling for her to be withdrawn.

The Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) letter had been sent to LPGA, the USGA and International Golf Federation) demanding Davidson’s removal.

Schmidt played alongside Davidson at Q-School, with both missing out on the premier circuit but earning Epson Tour status.

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“We all know there can be no equal athletic opportunity for women without a separate female golf category,” the letter 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.”

Back in 2010, the LPGA voted to remove the requirement for players to be “female at birth” after a transgender woman filed a lawsuit against the tour.

Schmidt wants that ruling to be reversed, and detailed her own frustrations about the current policy in an IWF video titled: “Time: Keep Women’s Golf Female.”

“We need the LPGA to make a change,” Schmidt said. “The bottom line is we can fight this all we want, but the true change comes from the LPGA. They are the only ones with the power to stop it. It’s up to them to protect us.

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“I think that when you have a big organisation that only protects one person compared to 400 or so others, that says a lot about who they are and how they handle themselves. They’re protecting the few, not the many.

“I’m just praying that [the policy] gets changed, and I’m praying that we can find a way to kind of find some common ground in that and hopefully for the next generation of golfers. All I can hope is that I had a part in that and a part in history in this way.

Schmidt said that players that share the same views are not ‘anti-trans.’

“In reality, we are just pro-women,” she added. “This movement isn’t about excluding people, but rather including women and keeping women’s golf female.”

Earlier this year, Scots-born Davidson came within one spot of qualifying for the US Women’s Open.

The 31-year-old was a three-time winner on NXXT Golf – Florida-based mini tour – but it was announced in March that competitors must be a biological female at birth to participate.

The LPGA have launched a review into its gender participation policy, with an outcome anticipated by the end of the year.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.