R&A's new gender policy aligns with USGA, LPGA

The R&A is joining other major golf organizations in enacting what it calls a "fair competition policy" regarding transgender athletes.

Last week, the LPGA and USGA announced eligibility requirements for transgender women, and the R&A followed suit Thursday. Next year, the organization said in a statement, anyone seeking to compete in "female professional and elite amateur championships organized by the R&A must have been female at birth or transitioned to female before the onset of male puberty to be eligible to compete."

The R&A rule aligns with policies of the LPGA and USGA that also dictate that players who were assigned the male gender at birth must have a limited concentration of testosterone in their serum.

The organization, which runs The Open Championship, said the policy doesn't apply to players in recreational competitions.

"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 recognize that we have a duty to ensure that in our elite competitions players can compete fairly and equally."

--Field Level Media