Pro golfers call on LPGA Tour to alter gender-eligibility policy amid leadership shakeup

Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson competes at Q School in hopes of making LPGA Tour.

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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LPGA logo during the second round of the North Texas LPGA Shootout played at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas. (Ray Carlin/Icon SMI/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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