March 8 is International Women’s Day, an annual celebration of women and all of their accomplishments. This year, women in golf and female athletes in general won a huge victory for women’s sports on International Women’s Day. Today, the NXXT Women’s Pro Tour issued a new ruling confirming that only women, born female, may participate in NXXT tour events.
The organization issued a statement today, affirming that this rule is in effect immediately to protect fairness and competitive integrity in their sport.
Effective immediately, competitors must be women to participate. This decision underscores the organization’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of women’s professional golf and ensuring fair competition.
NXXT GOLF CEO Stuart McKinnon expressed, “As we navigate through the evolving landscape of sports, it is crucial to uphold the competitive integrity that is the cornerstone of women’s sports. Our revised policy is a reflection of our unwavering commitment to celebrating and protecting the achievements and opportunities of female athletes. Protected categories are a fundamental aspect of sports at all levels, and it is essential for our Tour to uphold these categories for biological females, ensuring a level playing field.”
This policy update is the result of comprehensive research, thoughtful deliberation, and extensive consultations with a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the sports community. McKinnon added, “NXXT Golf is honored to lead in promoting and advancing women’s golf, providing a platform that not only highlights the exceptional talent of women golfers worldwide but also ensures the competition remains equitable for all of our players.”
A 180-degree Turn For NXXT Golf
NXXT’s decision was a bit of a surprise since, just over a month ago, the tour celebrated a transgender man, Hailey Davidson, winning one of their qualifying events. At the time, NXXT had this to say about Davidson:
“The Tour’s mission is to prepare the world’s best young women professional golfers for a successful career on the LPGA Tour,” according to the Epson Tour’s website.
However, following Davidson’s win — and the tour celebrating it — NXXT faced tremendous backlash from many female athletes, including Hall of Fame tennis player Martina Navratilova and noted defender of women’s sports Riley Gaines.
There have been no reports that pressure from these women (or the backlash from social media in general) was the cause for this reversal from NXXT. However, it seems like a fair assumption that the outcry did have an influence on the tour’s executives, including McKinnon.
The net result of the decision is that Davidson is immediately banned from all NXXT competitions and cannot earn any points from the tour (which he had planned to help his eventual aspiration to join the LPGA tour). It is unknown at this time whether previous wins or points will be stripped as a result.
Women Cheer NXXT Ruling
Unsurprisingly, Gaines was one of the first people on X to celebrate this decision, noting the excellent timing from NXXT
Leslie Ann Wade, former senior vice president of CBS Sports, joined Gaines in appreciation. She also noted the growing momentum to end “trans women” competing in women’s sports.
And, of course, Navratilova chimed in with applause as well.
The NXXT tour is probably unknown to most sports fans, except for dedicated followers of golf and women’s golf. But that does not make this decision any less important. The trans activists deliberately target low-profile leagues and organizations like this because they don’t believe they will face opposition. Or that people will be too afraid to speak out against it.
Today, NXXT told them that they were dead wrong in that assumption.
From now on, the NXXT Women’s Pro Tour will exist exclusively for women, not for men in a dress.
And that’s something everyone can celebrate on International Women’s Day.