Drug testing comes to the PGA Tour this year and, just as every golfer has his own swing, each has his own opinion on the subject.
“I hate the whole idea,” said Jupiter’s Olin Browne, a three-time winner on tour. “I hate that the world has come to this. It’s not just golf or sports. It’s life. Look at Enron, the way they cooked the books to change their stock price and take the golden parachute while hurting a lot of people.
“I really feel the drug-testing thing is a direct result of what’s happened in other sports, and I think golf has been dragged into it,” Browne said.
While the LPGA Tour starts drug testing with its first event this month, the PGA Tour won’t begin testing until July to give its players six months to understand the policy.
Whenever it starts, three-time major winner Ernie Els says, it’s overdue.
“To have golf at the same level as the other sports, it had to be brought in and I’m for it,” Els said. “I’m sure nothing will be found. I’m sure the guys know what they can and can’t take. I’m sure an Advil is still fine.
“But I guess taking steroids, well, I think we all know you shouldn’t take that or even other drugs. But you know, just to keep it clean and make sure that golf is the gentleman’s game that it is, that’s fine.”
Players will be tested for 10 categories of substances, ranging from anabolic steroids to narcotics and prescription medication. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, who for years said golf didn’t need testing because its players call penalties on themselves, says Tour members can be tested without notice or in their homes. Every player is supposed to be tested at least once a year.
Not everyone believes the testing will clear everyone, especially with the PGA Tour offering more than $250 million in purses and distance being more important than ever.
“It could be tempting because the game is a power game now,” said veteran Woody Austin. “It isn’t about precision anymore.”
Golfers who test positive for banned substances could be ineligible for as long as a year after one violation. A second violation could lead to a five-year suspension. Three violations or more could result in a lifetime ban from the PGA Tour. Fines of up to $500,000 are also part of the penalty phase.
Ty Votaw, the PGA Tour’s executive vice president for communications, said the Tour will announce which players tested positive and for what substance.
“In this sport, if you are labeled a cheater, if your career is going to be on hold for a year, we want to deter,” Votaw said. “And it’s not just from an economic perspective, but also from a reputation perspective.”
Jupiter Island resident Gary Player surprised many when he said at last year’s British Open that he knew firsthand of a player who was taking illegal drugs but said he promised not to reveal that person’s identity.
Even Browne conceded that there’s a chance his sport may not be as clean as Finchem and other Tour officials would like to believe.
“I suppose in the long run it’s for the best,” he said of testing. “You would be totally naive to believe golf would be above the fray.”
The PGA Tour will have several seminars to teach its players about the new policy. They’ll need to understand the drug-testing program better than they did last year’s inaugural FedEx Cup, when many players conceded that they barely knew how it worked.
While there was plenty of money at stake in the FedEx Cup, players could damage their careers and reputations with a misstep here.
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