An Australian pro has opened up the transgender debate in golf after winning on the Women's PGA Tour of Australasia.
Breanna Gill won the Australian Women’s Classic at Bonville Golf Resort in New South Wales, where she birdied the final hole to get into a playoff that she ultimately won.
After holing a three-footer for her first professional victory, she was sprayed with champagne as her peers ran onto the green to celebrate with her.
Gill jumped up from outside the world's top 500 to 393th with what was her first title since turning professional in 2015. The 32-year-old Australian's previous best finish was a runner-up at the 2021 The Players Series Sydney.
“I always thought in my head if I ever got the opportunity to actually win a golf tournament and the girls happen to come running out on the green, I was going to stand there and take it. I wasn’t going to run away,” Gill said.
“If you get yourself in that position, you just take it. It was so special.”
Gill's victory opened up the transgender debate in golf, with a viral tweet from the Women's PGA Tour of Australasia showing Gill with the trophy being viewed over seven million times before being deleted. The comments had been turned off but that didn't stop almost 3,000 quote tweets.
Showing nerves of steel, Breanna Gill triumphed in a playoff for her first professional win at the #AusWomensClassic! 👏 📷 @GolfNSW | #feelNSW | #NewSouthWales pic.twitter.com/j9ozV1jD5sApril 2, 2023
This isn't the first time a transgender golfer has had success in professional golf, with Scottish player Hailey Davidson winning on a US mini tour in 2021. On her Instagram page she describes herself as the "World’s 1st openly transgender person to win a professional golf tournament."
Per the Daily Record, Davidson said: “Opposition to transgender women playing in female sport irritates me due to most being based on societal stereotypes and not actual facts and real athlete experiences.
“During the tournament that I won on May 13, I wasn’t the longest hitter in the group and it was the same with the last tournament I played in, where I was being outdriven by a three wood on a few occasions.
“I hit the ball 270 yards and the longest LPGA player hits 291. I lost 30 yards of distance from all of the years of hormones and the lack of testosterone my body no longer creates. So, basically, what advantage do I have again?”
Davidson also made it through Stage 1 of the LPGA Q-school last year.
