Hailey Davidson made historical past on Saturday, January 20, as she gained the NXXT Ladies’s Basic at Mission Inn Resort and Membership close to Orlando to develop into the first-ever transgender participant to win a feminine area occasion.
By profitable the NXXT Ladies’s Basic, Davidson is now the frontrunner to win the Epson Tour. The highest ten gamers on the Epson Tour will earn the LPGA Tour card, which is their final purpose in the meanwhile.
Davidson was born in Scotland as James Scott Davidson to Hamish and Sandra. She was born together with her toes backward and, in consequence, needed to endure a number of surgical procedures whereas rising up till the age of 17.
Davidson’s love for golf started in childhood after her household moved to Kissimmee, Florida. She used to accompany her father, Hamish, to the native golf golf equipment. She was simply ten when she realized that one thing was not proper together with her, and as she turned eighteen, she determined to endure hormonal therapies in 2015. Six years later, she underwent gender reaffirmation surgical procedure in January 2021.
The identical yr, Davidson competed at Stage I final yr. Whereas she missed the lower, she created historical past by changing into the second transgender girl to compete after Bobbi Lancaster, who competed on the Cactus Tour in 2013. Lancaster had additionally appeared on the LPGA qualifying occasion that yr and had additionally gained conditional standing on the Epson Tour.
Davidson began her faculty golf profession at Wilmington College, the place she earned a scholarship to compete on the boys’s workforce of the NCAA Division II faculty. She was then transferred to the NCAA Division III faculty males’s workforce at Christopher Newport in Virginia.
Earlier LPGA Excursions had the requirement of ‘feminine at delivery’ however modified the rule in 2010, which gave new hope to transgender gamers, together with the likes of Hailey Davidson.
“It’s crazy,” Hailey Davidson reacts to the criticism
Though Hailey Davidson created historical past final weekend and gained a whole lot of reward, she couldn’t escape the criticism of sure folks. The 30-year-old trans golfer took to Instagram to react to the backlash. She posted an Instagram story the place she mentioned:
“It’s crazy the amount of misinformed hatred I have received so far today. All of these people (think) I hit it 300 yards or even 280 yards. How about 250 on a good day.”
Following her surgical procedure in 2021, Hailey Davidson misplaced 100 kilos and in addition misplaced the clubhead velocity of 9 mph, which resulted in reducing the space by 30 yards off the tee.
