The LPGA and U.S. Golf Association have announced changes to their transgender policies, effective for the 2025 season. The policies, which were announced in tandem on Wednesday, prohibit athletes who have experienced male puberty from competing in women’s events.
Hailey Davidson, a transgender athlete who competed in the second stage of LPGA Qualifying in October, fell short of an LPGA card but did earn limited Epson Tour status for 2025. She became the second transgender golfer to earn status on the developmental circuit. Bobbi Lancaster earned status in 2013 through Stage I of LPGA Q-School but never actually competed in an official event.
The LPGA’s new policy states that players whose sex assigned at birth is male must establish to the tour’s medical manager and expert panel that they have not experienced any part of male puberty, either beyond Tanner Stage 2 or after age 12 (whichever comes first). They must also maintain a concentration of testosterone in their serum below 2.5 nmol/L.
An LPGA statement read in part:
“The policy — informed by a working group of top experts in medicine, science, sport physiology, golf performance and gender policy law — was developed with input from a broad array of stakeholders and prioritizes the competitive integrity of women’s professional tournaments and elite amateur competitions This working group has advised that the effects of male puberty confer competitive advantages in golf performance compared to players who have not undergone male puberty.”
The LPGA’s updated Gender Policy extends to the Ladies European Tour, Epson Tour and any other elite LPGA competitions.
“Our policy is reflective of an extensive, science-based and inclusive approach,” outgoing LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement. “The policy represents our continued commitment to ensuring that all feel welcome within our organization, while preserving the fairness and competitive equity of our elite competitions.”
Under these updated guidelines, Davidson, who played men’s college golf 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, would be ineligible. Davidson began transitioning in 2015 and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2021.
In August, the Independent Women’s Forum sent a letter to the LPGA, USGA and IGF (International Golf Federation) signed by more than 275 female golfers that called for the organizations to repeal all policies and rules that allow biological males to compete in women’s events.
The USGA’s new policy, now called the Competitive Fairness Gender Policy, largely mirrors that of the LPGA with only minor differences.
Golf’s new transgender rules align with those of World Aquatics and the World Athletics Council, which oversees track and field. In June, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas lost a legal challenge against World Aquatics that argued its policies were discriminatory. In 2022, Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title.
“It was all based on competitive fairness as the north star,” USGA CEO Mike Whan told Golfweek of the process. “Right or wrong, let’s be able to look ourselves in the face and any competitor in one our women’s events in the face and say if you’re in this event, nobody has a competitive advantage relative to their gender.”
Q&A: Mike Whan explains major shift in transgender policy
Recently retired LPGA player Amy Olson, a former USGA champion, has been one of the few publicly vocal players about the need for organizations to return to a female-at-birth policy. Olson told Golfweek in October that she was cautiously optimistic that the tour would do the right thing.
“I am very, very sad that women’s organizations have waited so long to change their gender policies,” said Olson.
“There are people, human beings in the middle of these situations that it effects. I wish that it could’ve been dealt with before there was a face and a name involved.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LPGA, USGA announce changes in gender policies
