Hailey Davidson addresses backlash after second attempt at LPGA card

Less than a week after missing out on advancing through Stage 1 of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament, golfer Hailey Davidson addressed the wave of backlash she received for her attempt to become the first transgender woman to earn her tour card.

“It’s amazing, one decent round and all of a sudden people start claiming that I’m close to securing my LPGA Tour card and dominating women’s golf,” the 29-year-old Davidson wrote in an Instagram post last Wednesday. “If I were truly dominating, I would’ve cruised through Q-School last year and have much better playing status than I currently do, which is practically no status at all.”

That’s right, Davidson’s bid last week in Rancho Mirage, Calif., was her second attempt at Q-School, and it wasn’t even as successful as last year’s turn in Palm Springs when she made it to the fourth and final round but missed advancing to Stage 2 by four strokes. This year, Davidson missed the 54-hole cut by a shot after rounds of 70-76-73. But national news reports following second-round action last week elevated attention to Davidson’s story, setting off a firestorm.

Davidson’s Instagram post addressed several misconceptions regarding her journey, which she opened up about in December in a first-person essay for On Her Turf.

Born in Scotland, Davidson moved to the U.S. with her family in 1997 and was a self-professed “golf nerd” by the time she was 13. She described herself as “the angriest golfer” as a teenager.

“I wasn’t angry towards others, but I would just get so mad at myself if things didn’t go perfectly,” she said. “At the time, there weren’t any openly transgender athletes and as a result, I saw it as an either/or situation. I could either choose golf – or I could be myself. I didn’t