Golfer Hailey Davidson Attempts to Be First Trans Woman in LPGA

Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson has tried but failed to become the first trans woman in the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

Davidson, 29, competed in Stage I of the LPGA/Epson Tour Qualifying Tournament in Rancho Mirage, Calif., this past week, but her scores weren't good enough to move her to Stage II, Golfweek reports.

Davidson was the second trans golfer to try to qualify for the LPGA. Bobbi Lancaster did so in 2013 and qualified for the Epson Tour, a lower-level golf tour, but decided to devote her time to activism instead, according to Golfweek. Davidson also participated in the qualifying rounds last year but didn't make the cut.

She played golf on men's teams in college at Wilmington University in Delaware and Christopher Newport University in Virginia. She began hormone therapy in 2015 and had gender-confirmation surgery in 2021. The LPGA requires surgery for trans women who wish to compete.

She was born in Scotland but now lives in Florida. Last year she noted that she was competing as herself for the first time. She won a mini-tour event in May 2021 in Florida. She said at the time that it was important to her to be a representative of trans athletes.

"As cool as it would be the first person to do something," she told Golfweek, "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. When I was growing up that didn't exist."

She encountered some transphobia during her latest effort. Judy Murray, the mother of British tennis star Andy Murray. tweeted regarding Davidson's competition, "Not fair at all. Protect women's sport. Listen to the facts, the scientists and the medics. This is wrong."