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Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson has sued the LPGA and the USGA over their policies that prohibit biological males who have gone through male puberty from competing in the women’s competition.
The LPGA said in a statement that it was aware of the lawsuit and would “let that process play out in the appropriate forum.”
“The LPGA Gender Policy was developed through a thoughtful, expert-informed process and is based on protecting the competitive integrity of elite women’s golf,” the statement said.
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The USGA and LPGA changed gender policies for events in 2025 and beyond, stating that players must be assigned female at birth or have transitioned to female before going through male puberty to be eligible to compete.
The 33-year-old Davidson did not change until after puberty. Davidson competed in a US Open qualifier and the LPGA Qualifying School under a different policy in 2024, falling short in both endeavors.
Davidson argued in the lawsuit that the new policy effectively bans transgender women from competing in USGA women’s events or the LPGA because many states prevent children from taking hormones or blocking puberty.
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When the USGA denied Davidson access to the qualifier, Davidson argued that the Hackensack Golf Club violated the law by saying that the USGA controlled all eligibility decisions. Davidson began hormone treatments in Davidson’s early 20s in 2015 and in 2021 underwent gender reassignment surgery, which was required under the LPGA’s previous gender policy.
Davidson also filed a lawsuit against the NXXT women’s golf tour in December after it changed its policies to prevent biological males from competing against women.
NXXT and its attorneys from America First Legal filed its motion to dismiss in February and believe the case will be thrown out.
“We’re asking the courts to dismiss the claims and we’re litigating the case,” NXXT Golf CEO Stuart McKinnon told Pakinomist Digital.
“This was about simply protecting women’s sport. So the goal was really clarity and competitive integrity, and as a professional tour we felt it was our responsibility to define those categories.”
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NXXT was one of the first women’s tours to step up to make a policy change. The LPGA then changed its own policy to create more restrictions to protect the women’s category in December 2024.
