A women’s professional golf mini tour announced Monday it has asked the winner of its most recent event to undergo testosterone testing after she became target of an onslaught of hateful messages for competing as a transgender woman.
Hailey Davidson won NXXT Women’s Classic Jan. 17 in Mission Inn Resort and Club in Florida. She posted on Instagram that she was surprised she won, as it was her first win in nearly three years. Still, she told Golfweek she has received several death threats since her win and had to delete her X account.
“It’s always interesting how no one gets angry until there is any form of success,” Davidson wrote on Instagram Saturday. “I will never allow hate to win, especially when based in some misinformation.”
Monday morning, NXXT Women’s Pro Tour issued a statement on the “public concerns” of Davidson’s participation. It vowed to collect opinions from players on its gender policy and said it requested Davidson to undergo testosterone testing “ensure compliance with the appropriate guidelines.”
Davidson said she not particularly worried about her place on the NXXT going forward, according to Golfweek. She has taken the test and expressed no qualms about the poll.
“At this point, we’re trying anything to see if we can cool the fire down a little,” said Davidson, who added that “generally a lot of the hate comes from people who aren’t playing.”
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Davidson’s win was widely covered as evidence of her rise to the pinnacle of women’s professional golf. particularly by conservative outlets.
But Davidson herself said she is “so incredibly far from the LPGA Tour with a lot of work to be done to possibly earn my way there one day,” according to an Instagram post she shared Saturday.
The NXXT, formerly the East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour, has a new partnership this season with the Epson Tour, the developmental feeder tour for the LPGA. The top five earners on the NXXT points list will earn two exemptions into Epson Tour fields.
But in order for Davidson to receive those exemptions, NXXT’s fields still needs to grow considerably by March to reach a minimum requirement for Epson.
Even then, Davidson would still need to win an Epson Tour event to achieve status on that tour. A top-10 finish in an Epson Tour event as a non-member would secure her a spot in the next week’s Epson field. The Epson Tour is the official qualifying tour for the LPGA, and players will be ranked with points from the tour to determine who qualifies for a LPGA tour card in 2025.
NXXT says it follows LPGA, USGA gender policies
The statement released by NXXT said it aimed to address “public concerns” about Davidson’s win.
Even the statement on the organization’s website received some vitriolic comments.
It explained that the tour’s policies on gender were created to reflect those of the LPGA and USGA.
“When Hailey Davidson joined the tour, she complied with these policies by providing necessary documentation, including validation from the LPGA and USGA, which also facilitated her participation in the 2022 Q-School,” the statement read.
LPGA’s gender policy, applicable to applicants for membership in LPGA Tour, Epson Tour, LET, LETAS and LPGA Professional states the following on it’s website:
- Tournaments and membership are open to “transitioned female athletes,” though they must identify themselves upon application. LPGA retains the the right to require the athlete to substantiate her status if questions on eligibility arise, the site states.
- The athlete must provide a written declaration that her gender identity is female, and can not be changed in the context of the sport for a minimum of four years.
- She must have undergone gender affirming surgery.
- She must have received hormone therapy for one year and “maintained testosterone levels in a verifiable manner sufficient to minimize or negate gender-related advantages in sport competitions.”
Who is Hailey Davidson?
Three years ago, Davidson became the second transgender player to compete in LPGA Q-School and did not make the cut. She won her first professional title on the NWGA tour (National Women’s Golf Association), beating several LPGA players in the process, including Paula Creamer and Perrine Delacour.
The first, Bobbi Lancaster, was a 63-year-old physician from Arizona who earned Symetra Tour status in 2013, but ultimately spent her time traveling the country as a human rights advocate.
Davidson earned a scholarship to play on the men’s team at Wilmington University, an NCAA Division II school in Delaware, before transferring to the men’s team at Christopher Newport, an NCAA Division III school in Virginia.
On Sept. 24, 2015 – a date that’s tattooed on her right forearm – Davidson began undergoing hormone treatments.
In an Instagram post on the 7-year anniversary, she described the time since as “7 years of no longer hating myself, 7 years of losing muscle and slowly hitting the ball shorter day after day, and 7 years of finally being who I am regardless of what anyone else had to say.”
