Thirty years ago, women’s golf was scandalized when CBS sports commentator Ben Wright allegedly claimed that women were “handicapped” by virtue of having breasts, which, he stupidly claimed, would “get in the way” of their golf swings.
uncertain
he → scandalize → swings
At the time, many offered a low-hanging retort to Wright: that male anatomy should, by his logic, prevent men from being effective runners.
asserted
anatomy → offer → men
The world had a laugh, and women’s golf emerged unscathed.
asserted
golf → have → laugh
(While Wright ultimately lost his job over this, plus other offensive comments.
asserted
Wright → lose → this
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Considering what scandalizes women’s golf in 2026, one can fondly recall the Wright incident as a quaint scuffle that preceded the real battle of the sexes in sports: namely, the invasion of the female category by biological males.
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that → consider → males
This summer, two transgender-identifying golfers Veronica Ivy and Rachel Elser, won five women’s golf championships in Alberta and British Columbia.
asserted
golfers → identify → Alberta
Collectively, they’ve taken the Fort McMurray Club Championship, the 2026 Miskanaw Ladies Open, the Chilliwack Golf Club Women’s Mid-Amateur, and Women’s Mid-Master, and one unidentified club championship.
asserted
they → take → Master
Ivy previously competed in women’s cycling under the name Rachel McKinnon — and won the women’s World Masters title for 2018 and 2019.
asserted
Ivy → compete → 2018
At the time, McKinnon accused those who called the wins unfair of engaging in “hate speech” and “transphobia.”
asserted
who → accuse → speech
More famously, Ivy also told female detractors to “die in a grease fire.”
asserted
Ivy → tell → fire
Addressing detractors after the recent golf wins, one of Ivy’s social media posts from last month reads: “To the bigots: stay mad, and get a better hobby.
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one → address → hobby
You’re deeply unwell and you’re obsessed with harassing a stranger.
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you → ’re → stranger
You’re not going to make me stop existing and succeeding.
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me → go → ?
I feel really sorry for you.
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I → feel → you
You have my pity.”
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You → have → pity
Ivy and Esler are only partly to blame for their unfair wins.
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Ivy → blame → wins
They were enabled by a 2025 Alberta Golf policy change that allows golfers to compete in the category corresponding with their professed gender, rather than their sex.
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golfers → enable → gender
The policy stipulates that adult males “who have undergone gender reassignment after puberty” can compete as women after one year of hormone therapy, with medical documentation.
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who → stipulate → documentation
Females, by contrast, can begin to compete in the men’s category at any point after providing medical documentation.
asserted
Females → begin → documentation
Finally, “(a)ny transgender Golfer who is not taking hormone treatment related to gender reassignment may participate in sex-separated events in accordance with their assigned birth gender,” the policy reads.
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policy → take → gender
By virtue of creating different rules for males and females who identify as trans, including those who’ve not taken hormones, Alberta Golf has conceded that there are biological differences in sport performance between the sexes.
asserted
Golf → create → sexes
Despite the attempt at nuanced rules, their policy does not mitigate biology — and is still grossly unfair to women.
asserted
policy → mitigate → women
There is a reason that not a single female-to-male transgender athlete has ever dominated in male sports.
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athlete → be → sports
That reason is obvious to anyone who practices intellectual honesty.
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who → practice → honesty
Incredibly, British Columbia Golf has even more permissive policies, allowing persons to play in whatever category they choose and with no documentation required.
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documentation → have → category
“All identifications of Gender Identity or Gender Expression by Athletes are believed to be made in good faith and do not require further disclosure or documentation,” reads their policy.
asserted
policy → believe → disclosure
“British Columbia Golf recognizes that discrimination, prejudice and victimization based on Gender Identity and Gender Expression is a violation of human rights and will not be tolerated.”
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discrimination → recognize → rights
The swing width on this policy can only be marvelled at.
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width → marvel → policy
Going back to 1995, was Wright’s comment about women’s breasts meant as obtuse commentary on the male sporting advantage?
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comment → go → advantage
Who knows, but there’s no denying that males have one — even before puberty hits, and even for men who take female sex hormones or suppress their natural testosterone.
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who → know → testosterone
One 2024 academic article, appearing in the Journal of Applied Physiology, describes the “profound sex differences in human performance in athletic events determined by strength, speed, power, endurance, and body size such that males outperform females.”
asserted
males → appear → females
It goes on to conclude that “(t)estosterone suppression among male (XY biology) athletes who have undergone male puberty reduces performance but much of the male advantage is retained.”
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much → go → advantage
All of this is intuitive — at least to those who’ve not been bamboozled by the claim that one’s inner, metaphysical “gender identity” overrides the physical body.
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identity → bamboozle → body
Yet despite having both common sense and science on women’s side, we are caught in an infuriating, multi-front battle to protect our sports.
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we → have → sports
League by league, and association by association — as far up as the International Olympic Committee — we are having to assert what was commonly understood up until a decade ago: that women, while certainly not inferior to men, are at a sporting disadvantage compared to them.
asserted
women → have → them
In golf, women’s tee boxes (the place from where players hit the ball) are set forward to make up for the fact that, on average, women cannot hit the ball as far as men can.
asserted
men → hit → ball
Women’s average driving distance, measured in how many yards they can hit the ball, is approximately 86 per cent of male driving distance.
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they → measure → distance
That’s no small difference.
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That → ’ → ?
The policy of Alberta Golf and British Columbia Golf, which obliterates any evidence-based distinction between male and female categories, caters to ideologues and the feelings of a small number of transgender-identifying athletes, rather than to the truth.
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which → obliterate → truth
In fact, I much prefer the soft bigotry of men like Ben Wright, who would laugh at our female anatomy, over the deluded policy making that knocks female athletes off our own winner podiums.
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that → prefer → podiums
