Piers Morgan and Olympic icon blast transgender golfer Hailey Davidson

The furore surrounding a transgender golfer winning on a women’s professional golf tour continues to intensify.

Hailey Davidson, a 30-year-old professional golfer originally from Ayrshire but now based in Florida, won on the NXXT Tour last week, taking another significant step towards realising her ambition of competing on the LPGA.

The NXXT Tour, formerly the East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour, is a women’s professional golf circuit and part of the LPGA pathway.

After an impressive start to the season, Davidson currently leads the tour’s rankings and, subject to certain strength of field conditions being met, could be in line for exemptions on the Epson Tour, the official feeder circuit to the LPGA.

Her success has divided opinion, prompting the NXXT Tour’s CEO Stuart McKinlay to request that Davidson undergoes additional testosterone testing to “ensure compliance with the appropriate guidelines”.

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McKinlay added that the circuit is polling its players to gather their opinions on its gender policy.

That, though, is unlikely to be good enough for British Olympic legend Sharron Davies.

The 61-year-old former swimmer, who won silver in the 400m medley in Moscow in 1980, is a long-time opponent of trans women competing in female sporting events.

Just last year, she called for a boycott of Nike after the sportswear brand used transgender athlete Dylan Mulvaney to advertise its products.

Writing on X (formerly Twitter), Davies articulated her feelings on Davidson’s NXXT Tour victory.

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“This is an average male golfer who should be in men’s sport or ideally the open category identify how ever makes them feel better,” she wrote “But identify [sic] as a woman doesn’t make you a female, it’s simply cheating & depriving women from their fair sport opportunities.”

Piers Morgan, meantime, described Davidson’s win as “another shameful farce”.

In an interview with Sky News, Davidson acknowledged that she used to have an advantage over other female competitors but insists that is no longer the case.

“I’ve been transitioning for nine years,” she said. “I’ve been on hormones for almost nine years, I had surgery coming up almost on three years ago. I’ve lost just over 50 miles an hour swing speed.

“Trans athletes shouldn’t be banned, but at the same time, there needs to be regulations in place because it shouldn’t just be a free for all.”

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor