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Ladies fourball or mixed foursome? | ||||||
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May 4, 2003; Source: AnyoneForTee.com Gender bender ruling spells "T" for transsexual - but begs the question "Which tee?" | ||||||
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UK. Golfers who were formerly male can legally tee up in women's pro and amateur competitions following a new European ruling on rights for transsexuals. But which tee is likely to cause an ongoing row. | ||||||
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Commenting on the latest ruling, an LGU spokeswoman warned that scoring in future tournaments (especially those with TV coverage) could become highly complex. "Those transsexuals who are, as they put it, pre-op, will clearly risk penalty strokes for having more than one ball in play," she said. "And there could be a lot of confusion over who has made the cut." The new ruling overrules a gender qualification introduced by the LGU in 1996 (the United States Ladies Golf Association had introduced a similar rule in 1989), which requires all entrants to official competitions to be "amateur golfers who were females at birth". This followed several "worrying incidents at clubs" said the LGU. (At left, Joanna Daly, photographed at four and a half months pregnant.)In 1995, some women members at Horsley Lodge Club, near Derby, complained that their scratch-competition champion, Helen Talmage, a machine operator, had an unfair advantage because she had been born a man and had a sex-change operation at 19 [age not handicap - Ed]. Helen, previously Horace, was not alone. Judy Cousins, of Stoke Poges Club in Buckinghamshire, fathered two children before her change of gender led her into the higher ranks of women's amateur golf, before her unfortunate death from Parkinson's disease. Many believe that transsexuals should be forced to play off the men's tees. The LGU spokeswoman told AnyoneForTee: "Transsexuals might have lost some of their length, as it were, but they'll still have an innate power advantage."  At AnyoneForTee, we are firmly in favour of the latest initiative. Anything that brightens up the sometimes staid and predictable women's pro circuit is to be welcomed. Imagine the Solheim cup inhabited by these transatlantic greats: Colleen Montgomerie, a notoriously cross dresser (who also got very cross with the Mrs Doubtfire tag given to him by heckling American crowds - see above); the svelte but awesome Tigress Woods with the young and lovely Justina Rose (below right); the ageing grand dame of golf Jaclyn Nicklaus; leftie Philippa Mickelson; the big-hitting, hard-drinking and smoking Joanna Daly; the taciturn Davina Duval and, of course, Nicola Faldo and her faithful Fanny. We've nailed our colours firmly to the mast, but what is your view? We'd like to hear from you on the subject of transexuals and the tees they should play from. If the law of the land recognises them as women, should the LGU?E-mail us your comments, and we will publish the best mails received, as well as forwarding the results of our poll to the Ladies Golf Union. | ||||||
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