A transgender golfer, assigned male at birth, moves closer to LPGA membership by winning a Florida women’s tournament.
Hailey Davidson, aged 30, clinched victory at the NXXT Women’s Classic on January 17 at the Mission Inn Resort and Club, located near Orlando, Florida. She secured her win with a one-over-73 score, concluding the three-round event at a +4, as reported by the New York Post.
Davidson, originally named James Scott Davidson, is from Scotland. According to Golf Week, he reportedly initiated hormone treatments in September 2015, marking the final year he competed as a man.
After undergoing complete gender reassignment surgery, Davidson aspired to become a professional female golfer. In May 2021, five years after embarking on this journey, she achieved victory in her first women’s tournament. By June of the same year, the LPGA granted Davidson eligibility to participate in the league’s qualifying school, where she would work towards earning her membership card as a female golfer.
Trans golfer Hailey Davidson wins women’s tournament, increasing chances to LPGA qualifier https://t.co/2YcZupmC5M pic.twitter.com/3SPRMYDcOb
— New York Post (@nypost) January 20, 2024
She asserts that following her transition, she lost the power in her swing that she had as a male, and thus, she no longer possesses a strength advantage.
Davidson explained, “I’ve worked the last five years to get every inch of muscle off of me, doing everything I could to make sure I would not stick out like a sore thumb.”
However, this assertion appears to be at odds with the fact that Davidson currently holds a total score of 1320 on the NXXT tour’s leaderboard. This places her a remarkable 150 points ahead of the second-place woman on the board.
The golfer, whose journey has sparked controversy, has also accumulated over $10,000 in prize money during the past season. It appears highly likely that she will secure one of the ten exemptions to participate in the Epson Tour.
Davidson proudly claims the distinction of being the first transgender woman to ever secure victory in a professional golf tournament.
However, Davidson’s remarkable progress in women’s golf is undeniably accompanied by controversy.
Tennis icon Martina Navratilova strongly criticized Davidson’s efforts to obtain a women’s professional golf membership card. On January 20, she expressed her viewpoint on X, stating, “This really needs to end sooner rather than later. Male bodies, however they might identify, do not belong in women’s sports!”
