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NXXT Golf Tour CEO Stuart McKinnon says “competitive fairness” is needed and that’s why transgender athletes have been banned from the women’s pro tour.

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McKinnon and the tour are facing backlash for the decision, including from Hailey Davidson, a transgender golfer who won the NXXT Women’s Classic in January.

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“We didn’t make this decision lightly. We knew it was a polarizing topic and would evoke a lot of emotions from people out there,” McKinnon told Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Will Cain on Sunday, according to FOX.

“We took a lot of time in educating ourselves, spoke to many stakeholders in the golfing community and the sporting community at large from coaches and players and doctors and scientists, and educated ourselves.

“It really came down to one principle, and that was about competitive fairness. We felt that the biological male had a physiological advantage against the woman on the tour, and we made the decision to change.”

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Davidson had said on Instagram: “You know what really bugs me is that people think I win just by showing up. This is such a slap in the face to ALL female athletes being told that any male can transition and beat them regardless of the life of hard work those women put in … You think your (sic) attacking me but your actually attacking and putting doen (sic) ALL other female athletes.”

McKinnon said the decision, which was made on International Women’s Day on Friday, was made after players were consulted on the matter. He said the “overwhelming feedback” was that the female athletes preferred to compete against biological women only.

“I’m a father of five daughters,” McKinnon said. “Growing up in the sports, there was categories… and some is based on sex, and so this is really about protecting that category. In addition, we listened to the players on the tour. We conducted an anonymous player pool and overwhelming feedback came back that they wanted us to change our gender policy guidelines.”

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