Trans-Identifying Golfer Admits It’s Unfair for Biological Males to Compete in Women’s Sports
Nicole Powers, a biological male athlete who has previously competed in women’s golf, has admitted it is unfair for transgender athletes to compete against biological females. In an interview with OutKick, Powers acknowledged the competitive advantages biological males exist even after transitioning.
“I had to take a step back and realize that biological realities are real and competitive advantages will always exist despite the number of years or whatever surgeries and hormones you’ve done and then understood that my place is not in women’s sports,” Power said.
Despite being encouraged by coaches and fellow competitors, Powers explained that he never felt he belonged in women’s sports. Powers explained he would be told “you belong here,” to which he responded, “No, I don’t.”
“I’m not a woman; I’m a trans woman,” Powers admitted. “And it’s like this bizarro world where I’m trying to defend my reality against people who are trying to defend something I’m telling them I’m not.”
Powers explained that he intentionally held back during competitions to avoid dominating the field, saying he refrained from hitting his full power on drives.
“I didn’t want to raise any flags,” Powers explained. “So if I’m standing on the tee box with three other women, I’m not going to just bomb a drive out on the fairway 310, 315 yards, even though I knew I could. Despite my lifelong transition or transition for 10-plus years, I knew that I could do that, but instead, I would maybe club down; lay off a little bit on my game, because I didn’t want to raise those flags.”
Throughout his time competing, Powers felt uneasy about taking awards from biological women. “I knew I wouldn’t feel right if I did take awards [from women]” he said.
Powers was asked about trangender-identifying golfer Hailey Davidson who is competing for a sport on the LPGA tour. When asked about what governing bodies should be doing to protect female athletes, Powers responded, “I don’t know what the governing bodies need to do, but they need to listen to woman athletes. Women, adult human females, they need to listen to those athletes, listen to their pain points and understand that there has to be a change.”
“There has to be a clear line in the sand. And it’s not from a position of discrimination at all,” Powers added. “It’s just from a position of fairness, from the original reason why we (have) women’s sports and men’s sports.”
