Ex tour pro blasts transgender golfer Hailey Davidson

Hailey Davidson has taken another step towards securing playing rights for the LPGA – and one former card-holder is furious about it.

Davidson, who made international headlines earlier this year after winning an event on a women’s development tour in the US, advanced to the next stage of Q-School following an impressive showing at Rancho Mirage last weekend.

That leaves the Scots-born golfer just two stages away from the biggest stage in the women’s game.

And according to one former player, that’s unacceptable.

“Unfair,” wrote Amy Olson on X (formerly Twitter). “These women have worked too hard and too long to have to stand by and watch a man compete for and take their spot.

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“The only fair path forward is a policy based on sex, not gender.”

Olson, who retired from professional golf earlier this year, was responding to a video of Davidson shared by women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines.

“Exclusive footage of male golfer, Hailey Davidson, at [LPGA] Qualifying School this week,” Gaines commented. “He is vying for the opportunity to advance to the 2025 LPGA Tour.”

Since winning on the NXXT Golf Tour in January, Davidson has hardly been out of the headlines. Their win drew bitter condemnation from a number of high-profile figures – including Piers Morgan and former Olympic medallist Sharron Davies – whilst Caitlyn Jenner was moved to pen an op-ed directly addressing Davidson.

The backlash prompted the NXXT Golf Tour to change its eligibility rules, requiring that competitors be a biological female at birth to participate on the circuit.

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That goes against the current LPGA policy. Until 2010, it explicitly restricted membership to players who were “female at birth”. However, it removed that following a challenge in court by transgender golfer Lana Lawless. The then 57-year-old successfully argued that the policy was discriminatory.

Davidson has long maintained that they have no advantage over the competition, reiterating that stance with a social media post celebrating their Q-School success earlier this week.

“There is this massive lie out there that I am outdriving everyone, which is just so very far from the truth and reality,” wrote Davidson on Instagram.

“Clearly, conservative media needs to give these amazing female athletes way more credit, rather than belittle them and their capabilities in an attempt to attack transgender athletes.”

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