CEO Of Disc Golf Pro Issues Statement Following Tournament
A line was drawn in Nashville last Friday, and Abigail Wilson stood firmly on one side of it—alone, resolute, and fully aware of what it might cost her. As the starting call rang out at the Music City Open, a flagship event in the Disc Golf Pro Tour, Wilson approached the tee, disc in hand, but instead of launching into competition, she turned away.
“Females must be protected in our division,” she said clearly. “This is unfair. I refuse to play.”
Her decision was not spontaneous. It was the culmination of what she described as anxiety, frustration, and warnings behind the scenes. Wilson had already expressed her discomfort with being forced to compete alongside a trans-identifying male athlete, Natalie Ryan, whose participation in the women’s division has sparked ongoing controversy since 2022. When she raised her concerns about fairness and safety, she was swiftly reprimanded—not for threatening behavior, not for disruption, but for misgendering.
“I said, ‘Well, it is a very unpleasant thing that all of us women have to play with him,’” Wilson told The Daily Wire. “After I said the word ‘him,’ a staff member told me if I misgender him again, I will be penalized and removed from the tour.”
Let that sink in. A woman raises a concern about fairness and is met not with compassion or dialogue, but with veiled threats and ideological enforcement. In the world of modern sport, it seems, biology takes a backseat to compliance.
Security concerns only added to Wilson’s distress. She recalled last year’s tournament being suspended due to a terrorism threat against the same trans-identifying player, and yet this year, she arrived at the venue to find no visible security measures. No bag checks. No credential screening. No assurance that her safety—or the safety of other women—was taken seriously.
The Disc Golf Pro Tour claims security was present, including an on-duty officer and armed guards. But Wilson’s experience tells a different story. She saw none of it. She was let in without scrutiny. She didn’t feel safe. And still, she played—until Friday, when she couldn’t any longer.
Now, she’s probably blacklisted from the highest level of her sport. And she knows it.
“I most likely ended my career and that is okay because this is bigger than me,” she said. “The sacrifice of my career and my hard work is worth it if it means I can make a difference for other women, daughters, nieces, and the future of our sport.”
Meanwhile, DGPT Director Jeff Spring tried to soften the optics, saying Wilson “violated no rules,” and that she’s welcome to return. But don’t be fooled—the message has already been sent loud and clear to every female competitor: play nice, stay silent, or face the consequences.