The LPGA Tour can’t kick the can down the road any longer on its gender policy. Hailey Davidson, a male-born transgender golfer, emerged from last week’s second stage of Q-Series qualifying in Venice, Florida, with limited status on the developmental Epson Tour, and hundreds of female professional golfers reportedly aren’t happy about it.
More than 275 current and former female touring pros signed a letter to the LPGA, USGA and International Golf Federation urging gender policies that limit candidates to players who are born as female, calling for “fair and equitable competition for women,” according to OutKick.com.
The LPGA has vowed to review its gender policy before the 2025 season begins in January, according to a memo sent from commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan to players that was obtained by Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols.
In 2010, facing a lawsuit from transgender golfer Lana Lawless, the LPGA eliminated its “female at birth” requirement. Lawless participated in women’s long-drive events but not on the LPGA Tour. Bobbi Lancaster, another transgender golfer, competed in the LPGA’s 2013 Q-School and earned status on the developmental circuit, then known as the Symetra Tour, but did not compete in any events.
“I’ve been told I should still have good enough @epsontour status to get into a few events next year but I am not going to get ahead of myself,” Davidson wrote Saturday in a post on Instagram. Davidson won three times on the NXXT Tour, a Florida-based mini-tour, before it revised its policy to restrict membership to female-born players.
Davidson, a native of Scotland, played men’s college golf at the NCAA Division II and III levels before transitioning to female in pursuit of a professional career. READ MORE
Cognizant has dropped its title-sponsorship of the LPGA’s $3 million Founders Cup, signaling a potential cut in the prize fund and perhaps a move of one of the women’s tour’s most historically significant events, Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols reported. Cognizant, an information-technology company based in Teaneck, New Jersey, stepped in last year to title-sponsor a $9 million PGA Tour event formerly known as the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. READ MORE
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The Hero World Challenge has secured a commitment from the No. 1-ranked player in golf, but will it land the top player in the past generation?
Scottie Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion, was among 17 players – all among the top 26 in the world – confirmed for the 20-man unofficial PGA Tour event on December 5-8 at Albany in the Bahamas, but tournament host Tiger Woods was not on the initial list.
Woods, 48, has not competed since undergoing surgery on his lower back in September. He typically plays the Hero World Challenge in advance of another of his favorite exhibitions, the parent-child PNC Championship in which he competes with his teenage son, Charlie. READ MORE
The WM Phoenix Open, which was marred last year by beer-soaked fistfights in the stands and a spectator tumbling out of the bleachers, will make improvements to manage what has become the wildest party on the PGA Tour, the sponsoring Thunderbirds announced. Among the changes: an additional spectator entrance to TPC Scottsdale, expanded walkways around the course, full-digital ticketing and two more fan spectating sites. The tournament will be played February 6-9. READ MORE
Shriners Children’s Hospital ended its sponsorship of the PGA Tour event in Las Vegas, Nevada, ending an association that dated to 2007. READ MORE
Augusta National Golf Club released its “2024 Masters Official Film,” highlighted by a second green jacket won in three years by American Scottie Scheffler. To watch, click HERE.
LIV Golf trimmed its number of qualifiers from three to one for its second annual LIV Golf Promotions event, the Saudi-sponsored tour’s version of Q-School. The rest of the top 10 and ties in the three-day, 72-hole event on December 12-14 at Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) Golf Club will earn starts in the Asian Tour’s 10-tournament International Series. The $1.5 million qualifier will pay $200,000 to the winner.
American John Catlin, who leads the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit, also tops the International Series Rankings, which awards its No. 1 finisher with a spot in LIV Golf. READ MORE
American Hudson Swafford enters the off-season looking for a place to compete after he was dropped from LIV Golf for underperforming. He remains under suspension by the PGA Tour after having signed with the Saudi-funded rival tour for its inaugural event in mid-2022. Swafford, 37, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour who earned nearly $10 million on the U.S. circuit, finished no better than T36 in 13 starts with LIV last year. He missed most of 2023 after undergoing surgery on his right hip. The Asian Tour, which offers a pathway back onto LIV, could be an option for Swafford in 2025. READ MORE
TAP-INS
The Korn Ferry Tour, the top feeder circuit for the PGA Tour, will play 26 tournaments in seven countries next year, including 17 U.S. states, beginning with consecutive events in the Bahamas in January. READ MORE
In a nod to Hurricane Helene’s effect on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the PGA Tour canceled the second edition of its World Champions Cup. The tournament, a three-day, three-team, stroke-play event, matches senior players on U.S., Europe and International teams. The 2025 edition will be played December 5-7 at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. The American team of Billy Andrade, Jerry Kelly, Justin Leonard, Brett Quigley, Steve Stricker and David Toms won the inaugural edition in 2023. READ MORE
Portmarnock (Ireland) Golf Club’s bid to host the 2028 AIG Women’s Open and the 2030 Open Championship received a big boost last week when the Irish government reportedly committed up to €40 million (about $43.15 million) to the effort to land the R&A’s biggest opens for men and women. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon