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The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020 prompted widespread global lockdowns as the world looked to contain and reduce the impact of the virus, including a pause on most sporting competitions (Parnell et al., 2020). COVID-19 has greatly affected the world, exposing stark inequalities, especially across gendered lines, in areas of society such as the labour market, domestic responsibility and economic hardship (Alon et al., 2020). Sport is a crucial, interwoven aspect of society and like wider societal trends, elite women's sport has been adversely affected by the pandemic, facing an existential threat (Bowes et al., 2020; Clarkson et al., 2020; Rowe, 2020). The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of how the pandemic is negatively impacting a wide variety of elite women's sports. Specifically, we cover sports where women have traditionally existed on the margins of the sport and could be considered as male-dominated labour industries. Centring primarily on the United Kingdom, we present a brief chronology of the impact of the crisis on elite women's sport, across football, rugby, cricket and golf – in many ways different from the men's versions – spanning the eight months since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 until the time of writing in November 2020. Throughout, the chapter utilises qualitative data from elite sportswomen encouraged to share their experiences during the pandemic (see Bowes et al., 2020). Subsequently, this chapter concludes with a summary of the challenges for women operating in (semi-)professional sports environments.

The chapter details the development of one of the most lucrative professional sports for women in the world, while drawing attention to institutionalised issues of racism and sexism in the sport. We discuss the history of women in professional golf, from the roots of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), through the modern-day game where women now play for large sums of money each week. We then shed light on the development of a global tour which started with the likes of Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, and Se Ri Pak dominating a once Americentric tour, and how the LPGA struggled to embrace this cultural shift via the Five Points of Celebrity marketing plan and the contentious English-speaking rule. The discussion then moves to focal point of the chapter: the US media's reaction to long-time American professional golf coach and former radio broadcaster Hank Haney's disparaging comments before and at the conclusion of the 2019 Women's US Open. Twenty-five articles were collected from US golf and sport media outlets and coded resulting in four themes: (1) a downplaying of the remarks, (2) ambivalence to the women's game, (3) a privileging of men, and (4) a global tour. The chapter concludes with remarks that highlight the media's struggle to find the appropriate framing and language to cover the incident and how an intersectional approach reveals that oppression of women on the LPGA Tour exists beyond gender.

This study aims analyzing facilitators/constraints Portuguese women golfers face. The research presents 33 intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural factors, being supported by a theoretical sampling and data triangulation. The 39 interviews were interpreted by content analysis. Results suggest all participants perceive factors that moderate their participation and highlight dissimilar perceptions by professional and amateur players. Contributions address a manifest heterogeneity: social values prevail even when women are encouraged to join leisure activities. Study limitations derive from the geographical scope restricted to Portugal, yet raising awareness to gender in golf. Stakeholders acknowledge women’s low participation; however, this study appears to be the first paper about the subject.

Rigid environments, those with exceptionally strong cultural and traditional barriers to change, present unique challenges for institutional entrepreneurs attempting to initiate change. We utilize such a setting to examine what support mechanisms, both individual and contextual, have been utilized when attempting change in rigid environments. We examine the case of successful and unsuccessful attempts to make golf more inclusive to women. Our research supports the claim that rigid environments require more complex combinations of support mechanisms than other settings, illustrating the importance of institutions in both enabling and constraining change in such settings.

The sport events are very different for the people involved in the meeting (foreigners or national, regional, or local people) and the locations and now are in very crisis. After a review of literature on the effects of sport events, the chapter would suggest how to take into account sporting events after COVID-19. In this context, the chapter is aimed to assessing to impact the destinations through the methodology of case study. The research focused particularly on the project of the Italian Golf Federation for the organization of the Ryder Cup 2022 and assumed the economic, social, and environmental effects of this event on tourist system of local and regional scale. The golf events, nevertheless, can be easier to organize than other sporting events that take place, for example, in arenas and with great public access. The golf events, in fact, can involve a single person during the game and can play on air and be a great encouragement to promote local sustainable development (Fyall & Jago, 2007). The chapter, at least, is aimed to suggest the new policy to implement sport events to promote a new form of tourism, offering new incentives for local sustainable development of regional community, including all the participants to the events.