(Los Angeles) The professional LPGA golf circuit will no longer allow transgender athletes who have gone through puberty as men to participate in its competitions next year, the body announced Wednesday.
Published at 1:18 p.m.
Following the recommendations of a “working group” made up of “experts in medicine, science, sports physiology, golf and gender politics”, the LPGA reference women’s circuit estimates in a press release that “the effects of puberty male confer a competitive advantage in golf over other female players.
“Players whose birth sex was male and who experienced puberty as a man are not eligible” for professional competitions from January 2025.
In detail, a player who has made the transition who would like to participate in a competition will have to convince the “medical director” and a “panel of experts” that she has not experienced male puberty beyond a certain degree. and that she has maintained a testosterone level below 2.5 nmol/L since her transition.
The LPGA Tour indicates that anyone born as a woman is authorized to participate in its competitions, but that a man who has used products listed as doping for his transition will have to prove that he does not derive a “continued benefit” from it. for performance.
According to several media, more than 200 professional players expressed their concern about the circuit’s gender policy earlier this year in a letter to the authorities.
An American transgender golfer, Hailey Davidson, participated in LPGA tournament qualifying in 2024 and won her place to play in 2025 on the Epson secondary circuit.
“Banned from the Epson and LPGA circuits, I can’t say I didn’t see it coming,” Hailey Davidson lamented on her Instagram account on Wednesday.
Morocco
