Olympic gold champion CAITLYN JENNER's powerful, personal plea to keep trans athletes OUT of female sports: Born golfer Hailey Davidson wasn't on par with men… but beats top women – and it's unfair

Transgender athlete Hailey Davidson must recognize that golf is a game of integrity and withdraw from female competition.

Then the Ladies Professional Golf Association must follow suit and seize this opportunity to undo their grave mistake – and restore the spirit of one of the longest-standing women's professional sports associations in the world.

Let me be clear: I do not come to these conclusions easily.

As the world's greatest athlete at age 26, a lifelong news and sports commentator, and the patriarch of one of the world's most famous families, I have a duty to lend my voice to the furious, evolving debate over transgenderism and elite sports competition .

This divisive issue has exploded again as the 30-year-old Davidson battles to earn a spot on the LPGA tour after winning the NXXT Women's Classic last week.

Today, far too many people are afraid to speak out at all, for fear of cancellation or retaliation.

Well, I'm not afraid – and my perspective can, humbly, cut through so much noise.

When I competed in the Olympics, the only thing on my mind was my competition. I had great respect for them and of course dedicated every fiber of my being to beating them on a level playing field.

But with all due respect, Davidson (who asks to be addressed by his/her pronouns) can't claim to compete with that same esprit de corps.

I am a transgender person who picked up the game of golf in my 50s, and played as an amateur, non-competitively, alongside men and women of all ages. I am sure there are physical differences between men and women that cannot be erased by modern medicine – especially after individuals go through male puberty.

And Davidson, who began gender transition in his early 20s and underwent gender reassignment surgery six years later, is stronger than the rivals.

Davidson has responded to some of this criticism by claiming that their strength has diminished significantly since the 'transition'.

“It's crazy how much misinformed hate I've received so far today,” Davidson wrote on Instagram. “All these people (think) I hit it 300 yards or even 280 yards. How about 250 on a good day.'

Maybe that's true. But a 250-yard drive would put Davidson in the top 13 longest running LGPA players today.

Davidson has never been more dominant as a male athlete.

I have had several off-the-record conversations with people in the competitive golf world, including those with the PGA, LPGA, LIV, Aramco, ownership groups and sponsors.

Their private feedback is overwhelmingly consistent.

Davidson was a mediocre male golfer who never had a real chance of making it to the PGA. But now Davidson has a shot at one of the most coveted spots in women's sports.

How is that fair to women?

Why can't Davidson, who earned a scholarship as a male athlete, compete against men?

The telling answer that some trans athletes in golf – and beyond – will never admit is that they would never make it.

Davidson has become illustrative of what many trans people and allies fear: a seemingly self-centered individual who does not think about the consequences of his actions and may actually harm others.

Finally, I ask the LPGA: Isn't it time you admit you made a mistake?

The LPGA was founded in 1950 by 13 ambitious women who wanted to give women's golfers a space in which they could compete and win. Founded about 30 years ago, the PGA tour has always been open to men and women. But the only time a woman ever broke through at a PGA tour event was in 1945 at the Los Angeles Open.

It wasn't until 1981 that Kathy Whitworth became the first female player to earn $1 million in career earnings. Today, professional female golfers play on the LPGA tour for a total of $118 million in prize money.

That is an incredible achievement.

The LPGA tour has also been at the forefront of the fight for equal rights, notably rejecting a “Caucasians Only” policy before the tour's first black member joined in 1963.

To the tour's credit, I believe the LPGA's heart was in the right place. However, when the association voted in 2010 to remove the gender “at birth” requirement from their bylaws and allow transgender people who had undergone gender reassignment surgery to compete, they made a mistake.

The LPGA's fateful decision put the company on a slippery slope. It is likely that more opportunities will be denied to women, further undermining the LPGA's mission and casting a negative light on transgender people.

This is not about one person, one governing body or one sport.

This is a simple matter of honesty… and integrity.

Golf must take the lead.