Hailey Davidson failed in her quest to become the first transgender golfer to earn an LPGA card. Davidson finished Friday with a par 72 in the second leg of LPGA qualifying at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Florida.
A total of 43 players qualified for the final qualifiers in December. Davidson’s four-round total of 2-over-290 put all six of his shots behind the cut line.
Davidson, however, leaves with limited status on the Epson Tour for the 2025 season. She becomes the second transgender golfer to obtain status on the developmental circuit. Bobbi Lancaster earned the status in 2013 through LPGA Q-School Stage I, but has never actually competed in an official event.
Players who finished in the top 80 but did not advance to final qualifying will be placed in Category I on the Epson Tour priority list for 2025. The remaining players who completed 72 holes will be placed in Category K , in order of qualifying finish. As a reminder, 217 players were ahead of Category K on the Epson Tour 2024 priority list at the start of the year.
Davidson declined to answer questions Friday when approached by an LPGA official after her round.
Letter calling for repeal of policies
Earlier this week, the Independent Women’s Forum shared a letter with Outkick signed by more than 275 female golfers which was sent to the LPGA, USGA and IGF (International Golf Federation) last August, calling on the organizations to repeal all policies and rules allowing biological males to compete in women’s events.
The letter states that “it is essential to the integrity and fairness of women’s golf to have in place a clear and consistent participation policy based on the unchangeable gender of a player.”
The LPGA sent its own memo to players in August saying the tour planned to conclude a lengthy review of its current gender policy by the end of the year and would implement any updates to politics ahead of the 2025 season.
In 2010, the LPGA voted to eliminate the requirement that players be “female at birth” shortly after a transgender woman filed a lawsuit against the tour.
Earlier this year, Davidson was one spot away from qualifying for the 79th U.S. Women’s Open, the premier championship in women’s golf. She had primarily competed on NXXT Golf until the Florida-based mini tour announced in March that competitors must be biological female at birth to participate.
A three-time tour winner, Davidson was second in the mini-tour season standings at the time of the ban. She had performed nine times this season on NXXT.
This article was originally published on Golfweek: Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson fails to qualify for LPGA qualifying but earns Epson Tour status for 2025
