Drug Testing Set to be Administered in Golf
ESPN reported Friday that major golf association's around the world signed off on anti-drug policies. The PGA tour, European tour, LPGA, and other major world tours have committed to issuing drug tests to their athletes.
Testing could begin as early as next spring, but there are still details that need to be worked out. The tours still need to decide when to test, and what penalties will be enforced for failure to meet standards.
The banned drugs will closely mirror those that the World Anti-Doping Agency state as preformance enhancing reported the New York Times.
The decision to test golfers was made due doping problems in other sports. The New York Times reported that Tim Finchem, the PGA Commissioner, stated in a news conference that were it not for the problems other sports have had, golf probably would not have adopted testing.
Gary Player, a PGA professional, stated at this years British Open that he knew of at least one player that had used steroids. He refused to release a name.
“No sport is immune from doping," said Dr. Gary I. Wadler, a member of WADA’s Prohibited List and Methods Committee.
"The R&A has no reason to believe that golf is anything other than a clean sport," R&A cheif executive Peter Dawson said. "But we've been supportive of a coordinated international effort in golf to test for drugs so that we can demonstrate that our sport is clean and we can keep it that way."