Former LPGA Tour pro, Amy Olson believes that transgender golfers have “hijacked” what the US circuit’s 13 founders originally worked for and wants the LPGA Tour to revert its gender participation policy in order to protect opportunities for female-born players.
Olson – who announced her retirement in April 2024 – is an Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) ambassador who strongly believes that the LPGA Tour should only allow players who were born female to compete in the interest of competitive fairness.
In 2010, the LPGA changed its participation policy to allow trans-identified male golfers to participate in the women’s division – saying it would “assure fair competition for all members and participants.”
According to the LPGA’s gender policy, men who self-identify as women and have undergone at least one year of hormone therapy and a gonadectomy – a surgical procedure to remove the male testes – are cleared by the LPGA in tournaments and eligible for membership open only to female athletes.
The issue has been brought to light over the past year in particular after transgender pro, Hailey Davidson progressed through LPGA Tour Q-School and earned a spot on the Epson Tour – the circuit which feeds directly into the top US competition.
Hailey Davidson (centre) holds up the NXXT Women’s Classic trophy
(Image credit: Hailey Davidson Instagram)
Olson says she had been looking into the controversial policy since 2019 and recently signed a letter to the LPGA Tour, along with around 275 of her peers, calling on the US circuit to tighten up guidelines which she claims have been loosened in recent years due to the threat of legal action.
While Olson believes the LPGA Tour understands the sentiment from many of its members, the 32-year-old is not confident the governing body will go as far as she feels it needs to.
Olson said: “[This issue] is really on people’s minds now because it’s right in front of us, but it’s been there for 13 years – since we changed our policy… We want it to be female at birth – end of story. If you’re born female, you’re a female. If you’re born male, you’re a male.
“I do believe that the LPGA has heard us. I’m not sure if they’ll have the courage to go that far, but I know they update their rules in December and so I’m really hoping that we have…
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