Transgender players will face tougher restrictions to enter women’s professional and elite golf tournaments after the R&A introduced a new competition policy Thursday.
The protocols, which the R&A said were developed following extensive consultation with medical and scientific experts, mean players must have been female at birth or transitioned before the onset of male puberty to be eligible to compete in women’s events.
“We have carefully reviewed the best available medical and scientific advice relating to participation in elite and scratch level golf competitions by transgender athletes and decided that updating our entry conditions to preserve fairness in our female professional and elite amateur championships is the right thing to do,” R&A CEO Martin Slumbers said in a statement. “While we believe that golf should be open to all and are committed to developing the sport, we recognise that we have a duty to ensure that in our elite competitions players can compete fairly and equally.”