Miane Bagger is the first male-to-female transgender golfer to play professionally.
She was born a male in Denmark in 1966, and emigrated to Australia in 1979, where she presently splits her time between Adelaide and Perth.
As the Australian Amateur Golf Association had no existing rulings againest transgenders, Bagger was allowed to compete and won the South Australian Championship in 1999, 2001 and 2002. She was ranked as high as 6th on the Australian amateur golf circuit.
At the time this caused controversy, with strong arguments on both sides.
In 2003 she played in the Australian Women’s Open and attempted to join the Australian Ladies Professional Golf [ALPA] tour. In 2004 she was admitted.
As of 2008, Bagger is still unable to compete in the US based LPGA as they maintain a ‘female at birth’ entry condition.
Christopher Meatto