Hailey Davidson, a transgender golfer living in Florida has secured status on the Epson TOUR after winning the NXXT Women’s Classic at Mission Inn Resort in Orlando. Davidson’s goal is to become the first transgender woman to earn a LPGA TOUR card. Back in 2010, the LPGA adjusted their rules that competitors don’t have to be deemed “female at birth.”

Davidson, believed to be the first transgender player to win a professional women’s golf event three years ago, claimed top prize at the NXXT Women’s Classic Jan. 17 at Mission Inn Resort and Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, not too far from the LPGA’s season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

The NXXT, formerly the East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour, has a new partnership this season with the Epson Tour, the developmental feeder tour for the LPGA. The top five earners on the NXXT points list will earn two exemptions into Epson Tour fields.

While Davidson currently leads that points list with 1,320 points, a full 150 points ahead of second place, Davidson still might not earn any exemptions. In order to receive the Epson Tour exemptions, the NXXT must have a minimum of 10 events with an average of 40 players. So far, the NXXT fields are well short of that number.

Davidson beat 24 players in the three-round event earlier this week. Davidson was three shots back with two to play and wound up clinching a first title in 2 ½ years in a playoff.

Should the NXXT fields grow considerably in the coming weeks – the tour goes from November to March – and reach the minimum requirement, Davidson would need to win an Epson Tour event to achieve status on that tour. A top-10 finish in an Epson Tour event as a non-member would secure Davidson a spot in the next week’s field.

Davidson earned a scholarship to play on the men’s team at Wilmington University, an NCAA Division II school in Delaware, before transferring to the men’s team at Christopher Newport, an NCAA Division III school in Virginia.

On Sept. 24, 2015 – Davidson began undergoing hormone treatments and in January 2021, underwent gender reassignment surgery, a six-hour procedure that’s required under the LPGA’s Gender Policy.

NEW: Transgender golfer wins the NXXT Women’s Classic in Florida, increasing his chances to move onto the LPGA Qualifier.

RIP women’s sports.

Hailey Davidson played golf on a men’s team in college but now competes with women.

If Davidson ends the season as a top five player,… pic.twitter.com/WHl0nKwnvg

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 20, 2024

Article originally appeared on: Golfweek.usatoday.com