Transgender Golfer Wins Women’s Tournament in Florida, Aims for LGPA Tour
A man transgender golfer has stepped into win a women’s tournament in Florida, bringing with him her “dreams of making it to the LPGA tour”.
Yes, in the latest example of men transgender athletes beating biological women in their own sports finally getting their slice of equality in sports, 30 year old Hailey Davidson, born a man, won the NXXT Women’s Classic at the Mission Inn Resort and Club near Orlando last week.
Davidson shot one over 73 and finished the three round tournament +4, which was enough to take the trophy. Davidson was three shots behind an actual woman the next best golfer before forcing a playoff and winning.
NXXT says “The Tour’s mission is to prepare the world’s best young women professional golfers for a successful career on the LPGA Tour” and that the tour is focused on “elevating women’s golf”.
That Davidson’s recent victory placed her first on the NXXT tour leaderboard with a leading score of 1320, 150 points ahead of her closest competitor. Since November, she has secured two top-2 finishes in the league’s five tournaments, along with seventh and ninth place results.
And it isn’t just bragging rights that Davidson won: he/she was entitled to $1,576.51 in prize money, which adds to her career total which currently stands at $5,801.89 over the course of eight events.
The top five leaders in the tour’s standings will receive 10 exemptions to compete in the Epson Tour at the end of the season, the report says. As the official LPGA qualifying tour, the league has seen over 600 players advance to the premier global women’s golf organization.
With five events already concluded, eight remain, culminating in the NXXT Tour Championship in Ocala, FL., from March 25-27.
To qualify for two exemptions to the Epson Tour, Davidson, transitioning from male to female, needed LPGA approval. Discussions began in 2016, but eligibility was granted in 2021 after undergoing Hormone Replacement Therapy for over five years and completing gender reassignment surgery, as indicated in an October 2022 social media post.
Davidson reported a 15 mph reduction in club head speed following her transition, comparing to the PGA Tour’s average of 114.2 mph and the LPGA’s 94 mph, as per GraffGolf’s data.
