A transgender female golfer has recorded a mini-tour victory and is awaiting word about being qualified to join the LPGA.
Hailey Davidson sunk a five-foot put on the 18th hole at Providence Golf Club in Florida at a women’s event, recording what is believed to be the first golf tournament victory for a transgender person, according to Golf Week.
On that same day, Davidson was notified about meeting the gender policy requirement to compete in USGA events and hopes to hear the same news from the LPGA.
“We are currently reviewing Hailey’s application to participate in LPGA Tour events under the LPGA’s gender policy,” Heather Daly-Donofrio, the LPGA’s chief tour operations officer, said about the situation. “The policy is designed to be a private and confidential process between the LPGA and the athlete.”
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Davidson, a 28-year-old golfer who works in social media for NBC under the Golf Channel umbrella, underwent gender reassignment surgery in January and has been undergoing hormone treatments since Sept. 24, 2015.
Davidson, a biological male, says 9 mph in swing speed and 30 yards in hitting distance were lost following hormonal treatments, insisting that any personal “advantage that existed is fully gone” against biologically female golfers.
Transgender athletes competing in sports against the opposite biological sex has recently been a controversial issue in the United States, and several states are mulling or have passed legislation to prevent biological men from competing in women’s sports.
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Davidson indicated a desire to serve as an inspiration to transgender athletes affected by that legislation.
“As cool as it would be the first person to do something,” Davidson said, “to be honest, right now could not be a better time for me to hopefully keep pushing forward and maybe break out, because there is so much anti-transgender legislation. I feel like actually having representation on any professional sports level will give kids so much more hope.”
