Pro golfers call on LPGA Tour to alter gender-eligibility policy amid leadership shakeup
The LPGA Tour saw a shakeup in leadership this week when Mollie Marcoux Samaan announced she will be stepping down as commissioner next month, and Liz Moore will be taking over in the interim.
Marcoux Samaan has served as the tour commissioner since May 2021 and introduced record prize money to the organization, but faced criticism for the tour not seeing an increase in popularity during a rise in women’s sports. Moore has been the chief legal and technology officer.
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The LPGA Tour nearly had a major controversy on its hands when it came to trans inclusion in women’s sports. Hailey Davidson, a transgender women’s golfer, participated in Q School in hopes of acquiring an LPGA Tour card. Davidson had been removed from the NXXT Tour due to its policy to ban transgender athletes from competing against the gender they identify as.
Two professional women’s golfers and one retired pro hoped the LPGA Tour would take initiative and enact a policy to prevent transgender athletes from competing against biological females on the tour.
"My hope is the next LPGA commissioner has the courage and boldness to do what is best for not only its current members but the future of women’s golf through emphasizing fairness by keeping women’s golf female!" pro golfer Lauren Miller, who is also an ambassador for the Independent Women’s Forum, said Wednesday in a news release.
Pro golfer Hannah Arnold hoped that the organization would get leadership that is focused on the player.
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"We need leadership who emphasizes player first and tour second," Arnold, who is also an IWF ambassador, said in a news release. "Naturally it’s the ladies professional golf tour for a reason. It’s our responsibility to hold leadership accountable to the players. I’m hoping the tour leads with a player first mentality going forward."
Amy Olson, an IWF ambassador who recently retired from the LPGA, applauded Marcoux Samaan for increasing pay on the tour, but the next leader needed to make sure what the "L" in LPGA stood for.
"Mollie has been a fierce advocate for increasing pay for LPGA players. One of the most crucial issues the next leader will need to provide clarity on is what the L’ in LPGA means," Olson added.
Each of the golfers were among those who signed a letter to the LPGA Tour demanding the organization acknowledge the male advantage when it comes to golf between the two genders.
The letter also requested that the LPGA Tour "establish and enforce the right of female professional golfers to participate in women’s golf based on sex-eligibility must be limited to members of the female sex."
The LPGA Tour has a gender policy. It allows transgender golfers to participate as long as sex-reassignment surgery is done after puberty and hormone therapy requirements have been met.
Golfweek reported it obtained a memo from Marcoux Samaan in August, which said the LPGA Tour and Epson Tour will conclude a review of its gender policy by the end of the year, when changes, if any, will be implemented before the start of next season.
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
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