78 Women and 78 Men Just Competed Against Each Other in a First-of-Its-Kind Pro Golf Tournament - the Results Were One-Sided
As the storm clouds of transgender activism loom over the genteel fairways of golf, there are reminders that biology really does matter.
A precedent-setting golf tournament in Sweden this month ended up not being all that different from expected when the results came in.
According to Golf Digest, the Scandinavian Mixed tournament at Vallda Golf & Country Club began with 78 men and 78 women. But even with the women playing a course 922 yards shorter than the 7,060-yard layout the men played, 45 men and 26 women made the cut, far less than the 50-50 split at the beginning of the tournament.
In the end, eight of the top 10 places went to men, with Jonathan Caldwell of Northern Ireland emerging as the winner on Sunday.
Looking ahead, an athlete born a male coming out on top could start taking place on the LPGA Tour.
Transgender golfer, a biological male, wins women’s mini-tour event, now hopes to break into the LPGA https://t.co/NhypIIuqOG THIS IS STEALING, REAL FEMALES IN SPORTS ARE BEING ROBBED OF ANY FAIR PLAY, ENDORCEMENTS, ETC. NOW IT’S A SHAM.
— DEE (@DEE17811880) June 11, 2021
Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson, who formerly competed as a man, last month won a National Women’s Golf Association mini-tour event in Florida. LPGA player Perrine Delacour came in second.
Davidson, who underwent gender reassignment surgery in January, has applied to compete on the LPGA Tour.
“I’m not just going to be stuck on mini-tours,” Davidson said, according to Golfweek.
Yesterday I became the first transgender person in the world to win a professional golf tournament! It was also my first professional win and I cant wait to get back out there next week! pic.twitter.com/Son4e1aSk4
— Hailey Davidson (@Haileydgolf) May 14, 2021
Davidson, 28, is a commentator with the Golf Channel and has received permission from the U.S. Golf Association to compete in women’s events.
Davidson has been undergoing undergoing hormone treatments since 2015.
“We are currently reviewing Hailey’s application to participate in LPGA Tour events under the LPGA’s gender policy,” Heather Daly-Donofrio, the tour’s chief operations officer, told Golfweek.
“The policy is designed to be a private and confidential process between the LPGA and the athlete.”
The LPGA in 2010 eliminated a requirement that to compete as a woman, a woman must be born as a woman.
The USGA recently changed its gender rules. Instead of undergoing gender reassignment surgery two years before seeking admission to play as a female, a person now must just have the surgery completed before the entry deadline.
“To be honest, you’re really just putting up a two-year roadblock to hope that we give up by the time that two years finishes,” Davidson told Golfweek. “That’s all I ever saw it as.”
Davidson said he consistently has hit the ball 30 yards shorter off the tee since he began treatments in 2015. He also said he has lost 90 pounds over the past 300 days.
“Any advantage that existed is fully gone,” Davidson said.
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