"Guys use protein, they take creatine, which is legal, but really, we're all just following the example Tiger has set."

The Denver Post's Anthony Cotton looks at the performance enhancing drug issue in golf and includes some interesting player comments late in the piece. First, Woody Austin:

"It could be tempting because the game is a power game now. It isn't about precision any more," Austin, a pro for more than 20 years, said. "Back in the day, the game was about controlling your ball; now, that's not the case.

"When the top five players in the world say they don't even worry about hitting the ball in the fairway when you're talking about 340-yard drives and 7,500-yard courses — I guess somebody might be tempted."

Oh but wait until they get those V-grooves Woody. It'll all change overnight.

Now here is the interesting part, courtesy of Sean O'Hair.

But younger players, like the 25-year-old O'Hair, say illegal substances aren't needed to reach those numbers, or to succeed at the game's highest level.

"The guys I talk to, we kind of laugh at all of this," O'Hair said. "Steroids create bulk — which isn't good for golf. They're going to affect your mind and thinking — which isn't good for golf. There's just no benefit from it.

"Guys use protein, they take creatine, which is legal, but really, we're all just following the example Tiger has set. The younger guys work out harder than the older guys do; they're in better shape than the older guys were — that's why we hit it longer, and that's why we're going to have longer careers than they did."

So, will just ignore the "we're better athletes" fantasy for a moment. O'Hair says no one would ever think of using something to help bulk up or improve endurance, yet he says guys are taking creatine, which helps you bulk up and improve endurance.

Ah, but creatine is legal, and apparently, because we are talking about golf, home of the self-righteous and law-abiding, no one would ever do anything illegal.

And about following that example Tiger sets, FYI, he advocates performance enhancing drug testing.  

"He did golf a huge favor by saying what he said."

Now that the vitriolic comments lobbed Gary Player's way have quieted down following his comments on the possibility of performance enhancing drug use, Michael Bamberger makes an interesting point:

But if he wants to talk about possible steroid use in golf, who are we to shut him down? For decades, Nicklaus used almost every press conference to say the golf ball was going too far. He did it out of respect for the game and its courses. He was trying to bring about change. Gary Player has won all four of golf's major titles and a whole lot more. He didn't get there by working off a script, and he has no reason to work off one now, whether he's talking about drugs or his captain's picks or anything else.

The fact is, he did golf a huge favor by saying what he said. ("I know some are doing it. We're dreaming if we think it's not going to come into golf.") The denials were fast and furious, from Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and Nick Faldo, and even from golfers who will be on Player's international team come September, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. Some time ago, Woods said he didn't think drugs were a problem because he didn't see "240 or 250 [pounders], in shape, all cut up, all ripped up. We don't have guys out there like that."

For a man of Woods's intelligence, that's a surprisingly naive comment. "You can have any body type you want on steroids," says Charles Yesalis, a Penn State professor who studies the role of steroids in sports. Do any Tour de France cyclists weigh 240 pounds? An athlete takes steroids so that he may recover more quickly from a workout, so that he may workout again. Size has nothing to do with it. Strength, speed and agility do.

Gary Player, the wee little man, proved that 40 years ago, when he managed to use his mushy ball and dead driver to play with Big Jack and Arnold and Billy Casper. He did it with diet and sit-ups and a few hundred balls a day. At 71, not much has changed. His score at the Masters this year was 16 over par for two rounds. On greens that fast, on a course that long, from a man of that age? One-sixty for two rounds is amazing.

The Dangers of Drug Testing?

Two trusted readers responded in emails to my post a few weeks back asking about the "risks" of drug testing. They said that false-positives or positive results for substances prescribed by a doctor were the danger of drug testing in golf.  I respect their opinions and agree that it is risk #1, what I never quite understand is why the policies in place seem to fail to take into account the athlete's current medical care situation.

Possible case in point, from reader Hawkeye:

Italian golfer Alessandro Pissilli has been suspended after failing a drug test, the Italian Olympic Committee said Wednesday.

Pissilli, who plays on the Italian pro tour, tested positive for the banned diuretic Finasteride at the Omnium National Championship on June 29.

Pissilli has been suspended by the Italian Golf Federation and could face a two-year ban if found guilty of a doping violation.

His local golf club in Florence released a statement later Wednesday, defending him and saying that he had informed authorities at the time of the test that he had taken the drug for almost two years to treat a prostate problem.

And here's where the false-positive debate has merit:

Finasteride is also used to treat hair loss but can mask steroid use, and has been at the center of several recent doping cases.

Yikes, talk about a potential nightmare for the Champions Tour! Sorry...

American skeleton slider Zach Lund missed the 2006 Turin Olympics because of a one-year doping suspension triggered by his use of the drug. He was later cleared of wrongdoing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

I know there is much more here than meets the eye, but it just seems odd that so many of these cases come up where an athlete was taking something for a legitimate reason and yet somehow that was not clarified or dealt with privately before a publicly embarrassing test result and suspension.

"Right now in golf there is no cheating because it doesn't ban anything."

Hey, that Tour de France is going well isn't it!?

If you have HBO, don't miss the latest episode of Costas Now that had Barry Bonds foaming at the mouth. Because if you're on the fence about the need for a drug testing policy in golf, the mess in baseball or the Tour de France might be put into better perspective. 

Golf World's Ron Sirak dealt with the issue that many outside of golf have tackled, namely the disarray in sports right now and the possible reprecussions for golf. The New York Times's George Vecsey also considered this crisis in sports but didn't mention golf. However, he did question when fans would have enough, and I'm starting to wonder how many golf fans are growing suspicious each time a famous player or announcer launches into one of those "golf is a game of honor therefore there is no cheating" speeches.

Vecsey also makes this point, which Tim Finchem might want to note next time he is going on the record that he thinks testing is unnecessary (my money is on NEVER AGAIN, but you just never know!):

The ashen looks on the faces of three of America’s sports commissioners indicate that they know they are in the same shaky state as the commissars who indulged doping in cycling over the past generations and are now paying the price in public shame.

Meanwhile Gary Player went on a little tirade, defending himself at this week's Senior British Open from the many criticisms lobbed his way about how dare he accuse someone of cheating!! Of course, as Player points out, how is it cheating when there is no rule against it (the key point for me in Bonds's case as discussed in the Costas show.

Player, from The Scotsman's Mike Aitken:

After signing for 72, one shot more than his age in the Senior Open at Muirfield yesterday, Player was in no mood to back down about his drug cheat claims. "I was shocked by his [Alliss'] comments because he doesn't know anything about it [drugs in golf]," said the winner of nine majors. "He clearly doesn't know anything about it. But why was he saying I was a 71-year-old man as if I was in my grave? I could reply and say a 75-year-old man should be au fait with what was happening. He just has no idea.

"He also wanted to know why I hadn't named the players [on drugs]. Someone said to me 'what do you think about human growth hormone?' and then asked for my word not to ever mention what he's doing. He told me he was trying it. My advice to him was he shouldn't do it. Am I then going to go and mention names when someone has spoken to me in confidence? If I did that, they would crucify those guys. Perhaps justly so, because the average man doesn't know [golf doesn't have a drugs policy]."

Player also said he was taken aback when his remarks were reported so prominently. "I was very surprised by the reaction because this is what the golfing bodies have been saying and the game has been highly criticised by the Olympic committee as the last sport to have a policy on drugs. Tiger Woods and other top players have also been calling for testing, so why the big fuss when I say something ?

"The thing I'm saying is we've got to have a policy. I had dinner in Geneva with one of the Olympic committee and when I made my comments at Carnoustie, Dick Pound [head of the world anti-doping agency] was very complimentary.

"Lots of golfers have taken things like beta blockers and many have said so. Right now in golf there is no cheating because it doesn't ban anything. Others sports have a policy, we don't. It's like the baseball player Mark McGuire who took creotine until they said you can't. Once we start testing, the ones who are taking things are going to stop. That's the beautiful thing about having a policy.

"We shouldn't be the last sport to do it but we are. Mark McNulty told me something interesting. In France, they held a tournament several years ago which was government sponsored, so they tested for drugs. When that was announced, 20 withdrew ..."

Uh, I'm not so sure about that last one. Does anyone have a link that clarifies what went on in France? I couldn't find anything.

Sabbatini To Player: Name Names So You Can Be More Unpopular Than Me!

Okay, that's not exactly what Rory said, but Norman Dabell writes that Sabbatini wants Gary Player to name names when making steroid accusations. Perhaps so that the South African great will be even more disliked than his young countryman.

"If you're going to say something, don't say half of it, either be quiet and let things be or spill the beans," Sabbatini told a news conference on the eve of the Players' Championship of Europe near Hamburg.

"I don't believe there are guys that are doing that."

This was also interesting, and yet more evidence that Niclas Fasth actually ponders these issues before he speaks.

Fasth, though, thought drugs in golf, which is not based on the power and strength required for sports that have frequently been caught up in doping scandals such as cycling and athletics, could still give some an unfair advantage.

"Certain drugs make you calmer and lower the pulse rate, so they would have their place in golf as much, if not more, than any other sport," Fasth told a news conference.

"It would be hugely disappointing to me if I was having a tough battle down the closing holes and my opponent had taken drugs to help him." 

What's The Risk?

During Friday's TNT Open Championship telecast, Peter Dawson sat down with Paul Azinger and Ernie Johnson to tell us what an irresponsible man Gary Player was for not outting someone during his Wednesday press conference. (I'll post the exact remarks when TNT hopefully sends them out.)  Peter Alliss chimed in later with the same remark, that Player should have named names.

Dawson had to scold Player for making such a surprise statement and he made sure to let us know that he believes golf is clean. Oh but, by the way, the R&A is initiating a drug testing policy at the same time!

Now, if Player is so off base and out of line and golf is so clean, why would the R&A be establishing a policy?

More perplexing was Azinger, who suggested that a drug testing policy and program was a "risk."

Other than the cost, policy issues and annoyance factor, what is the risk?

That up and coming players might be discouraged from popping an Effexor or injecting themselves with something that won't help their long term health?

What's the risk of drug testing in golf?
 

Update on 2007-07-21 01:39 by Geoff

Here are the exact remarks from the nice folks at TNT:

Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, joined Ernie Johnson and Paul Azinger in the booth

Dawson on the 2007 Open Championship : “(The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews) could not be more pleased. This is an exciting Open Championship played on the toughest golf course that we have.”

Dawson on the criticism following the 1999 Open Championship : “To be honest, I think anytime you have a championship when the player reaction to a golf course is so negative, you have to be stung by it. What we’ve learned from that is just how important player reaction is.”

Dawson on the fine line of altering a course due to players’ complaints : “It’s a delicate line. The one issue we can never control in the United Kingdom is the weather pattern. We don’t interfere with the golf course as much as what is the norm in the United States. We let nature take its course.”

Dawson on Gary Player’s assertion that some PGA Tour players are taking performance enhancing drugs : “It came as something of a surprise. Just how Gary (Player) has this particular piece of information that nobody else seems to have is bit of a mystery to me. It goes down as another one of the smallest of unsubstantiated rumors about performance enhancing substances in golf.”

Azinger on Player’s claim : “I was blindsided by this as well. I’ve been on the tour 26 years and I haven’t heard anything at all. I don’t know anyone that is (using performance enhancers). Gary may have put his foot in his mouth a little bit. The players are angered by it and they want to hear some names (of users) if he wants to (make the assertion).”

Azinger on drug testing PGA Tour players : “It’s easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to this (claim) and want to test the players. It may be the right thing to do at this point. It’s also a risky thing to do, I don’t know if the sport needs it.”

Dawson on drug testing PGA Tour players : “It’s certainly a complex and costly exercise to introduce a fully-fledges anti-doping policy across the whole world of golf. I think today, golf may have to recognize in these modern times that we have to not just say we’re a clean sport but demonstrate it as well.”

Azinger on performance enhancing drugs versus advances of golf technology : “(Technology) has done a pretty nice job so far. The metal-wood has been the greatest advancement in the sport since I’ve been on the tour (26 years). More so than even the golf ball. If steroids help you make a four-footer, which I don’t think they can do, then I don’t think we have too big of a problem.”

"No, not surprise me because I know - I know for a fact - that there are golfers...that some golfers are doing it."

Sheesh, they invite Gary Player into the interview room for one of those sweet little gabfests with a former champion, just so the scribblers who can't bear to write a Euros majorless drought story have something to fall back on. And what does Player do? Why he makes news. Take that Peter Thomson!

Asked if he would be surprised by any positive findings the 71-year-old commented: "No, not surprise me because I know - I know for a fact - that there are golfers, whether it's HGH (human growth hormone), creatine or steroids, that some golfers are doing it.

"And the greatest thing that the R&A (Royal and Ancient Club, organisers of the Open and golf's ruling body outside of America and Mexico), the USGA (United States Golf Association) and the PGA (Professional Golfers' Association) can do is have tests at random.

"It's absolutely essential that we do that. We're dreaming if we think it's not going to come into golf.

"You look at these rugby teams today - and I followed rugby all my life - it's so obvious it's happening.

"It would be interesting what percentage of athletes, men and women, in the world are using one of those three enhancements. I think 40%.

"I've changed my mind overnight. I think it's almost 50 to 60%. I'm not saying golfers, I'm saying just across the board with all sports."

Asked what he thought the number was in golf, Player replied: "Well, I'd be guessing, I'd be guessing. You want me to take a guess?

"I would say of golfers around the world playing on tour I would say there's 10 guys taking something. I might be way out - definitely not going to be lower, but might be a hell of a lot more.

"And I'm delighted to see that they're going to start having tests at random, if that's what they officially have decided."

Questioned on how he knew "for a fact" that there are drug cheats in golf the three-time Open champion said: "Because one guy told me.

"One guy told me and I took an oath prior to him telling me and he told me and I won't tell you where, but he told me what he did and I could see this massive change in him.

"And then somebody else told me something that I also promised I wouldn't tell that verified others had done it."

Drug Testing Policy Almost Done

Wow, a PGA Tour drug testing policy is almost here but still no ball study complete. And just think gents, all we had to do was throttle the ball back 15-20 yards and stop having everyone telling us that you were better athletes and you wouldn't have to pee in a cup the rest of your careers! Oh well!

The Commish Wednesday:

“It’s unfortunate that these realities are with us, but they are,’’ Finchem said Wednesday at the Travelers Championship. “And we have to deal with them, and I think it’s important that golf deal with them collectively.’’

Euro Tour Commits To Drug Testing

Lewaine Mair reports in the Telegraph that it would have started sooner if not for the PGA Tour "dragging its heels."

Annika Looking Forward To Learning About Steroids...

...because the LPGA releases their banned substances list. Annika comments:

``I'm not very familiar with any of those substances, and I don't really know what they are other than caffeine (which is not banned) and cocaine, I think,'' she said. ``I have a lot of learning to do. But I think it's an important statement that we're making.

``It's a new era for the LPGA,'' Sorenstam said. ``We're standing behind it.''

'I'm still three-putting but now I don't give a..."

Thanks to reader Greg for this very serious John Coomber piece on the role antidepressants have played in the lives of Brett Ogle, Stuart Appleby and Steven Bowditch. It ends on this light note.

Five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson, who is at Royal Sydney this week, said he never knew depression or stress related illness to be a factor during his playing days, though he suspected some who sought refuge in alcohol may have been suffering.

Thomson recalled that American golfer Tommy Bolt, famous for his temper tantrums on the course, once tried taking sedatives to control his rage.

"In 1956 (the year Thomson won his third successive British Open) Tommy started taking a drug like a kind of valium to calm him down," he said.

"When I came back to America for the 1957 season I asked him if he was still taking the tablets and whether they were doing him any good.

"'Yeah,' he said. 'I'm still three-putting but now I don't give a shit.'"  

One reporter teed off in heels. Another hit the runway before the ball.

Jill Painter reports on the latest Tiger-hosted media gathering to show off the new Nike driver.

Oh to have YouTube video of this...

After Woods was done doing the demo, Nike representatives informed reporters that they could take a crack at the new club. Woods then laughed. Then he told everyone to not hit the ball in the street.

Had he stayed to watch the weekend hackers, he would've been as entertained as he imagined.

FSN West reporter Michael Eaves sliced his first shot onto 120th Street. One reporter teed off in heels.

Another hit the runway before the ball.

"There were no failed tests."

Curtis Eichelberger reports that the World Amateur Team contestants passed all of their drug tests.

"I am pleased to be able to tell you that all test results from the World Amateur Team Championships were negative,'' Dawson said in an e-mail. ``There were no failed tests.''

The tested golfers -- six men and six women -- were picked at random from the 70 male and 39 female teams of three golfers each at the championships, Fay said.

"`You are relieved when the results all come back negative,'' Fay said in a telephone interview from his office in Far Hills, New Jersey. ``But there was a high degree of education. These players were made aware there would be a random test and it confirms for these two championships that we're clean.''

The tests were conducted by the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport following guidelines set by the World Anti- Doping Agency, Fay said. The women's championship was held Oct. 18-21, and the men's Oct. 26-29.

"No one looks like they're on anything."

Garry Smits pens a lengthy piece on the possibility of steroids in golf and once again various players just howl about the audacity of those who suggest a PGA Tour player might resort to performance enhancing drugs, and therefore, testing should be in place to ensure that the players of tomorrow don't resort to extreme measures.

Considering that many of these players are the same chaps who refuted the idea that lax equipment regulation led to distance increases but instead said the distance was coming from those rigorous minutes hours they were spending in the fitness trailer getting a deep tissue ego massage.

Yes, the same folks who cited athleticism as the primary source of distance increases, now say that the idea of strength enhancing steroids entering the game is simply not fathomable!

You know, if only today's poorly regulated equipment didn't give a disproportionate advantage to those with strength and height, this debate might not be happening. Just a thought.

Anyway, the highlights from the Smits piece. Starting with Vijay, who doesn't sound like he's ready to pee in a cup.

"Look up and down the range," Singh said. "No one looks like they're on anything. No one comes back from the offseason looking like Barry Bonds."

Rank-and-file players from struggling young professionals to Hall of Fame members say there isn't a problem now, and don't anticipate one in the future. Many say until examples surface, a mandatory testing program would be a costly exercise in proving the obvious.

"Testing would be a complete waste of time," Jesper Parnevik said. "I think you're talking about drugs that would ruin someone's game, not help it."

A guy who eats sand says that testing is a waste of time?

This is fun from Davis Love...

Love has been a party to those discussions and will, with the rest of the board, sign off on any future testing program. He isn't happy that the Tour could be forced to test because of public opinion, rather than hard evidence that a player is using steroids.

"We've been told it will cost between $3 and $5 million a year to test, and that's for urine testing," Love said. "Blood testing will be higher. That's $5 million that could be going to charity. But you don't see a whole lot of huge guys on the PGA Tour. Do we have a problem now? I don't see it."

$5 million? Is PGA Tour Championship Management handling the testing?

I don't believe this next point has been raised in other stories about why steroid usage would be bad...

Walter Taylor, a sports medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic, said there is no evidence anabolic steroids would help a golfer's overall game, especially at the PGA Tour level.

"You would obviously see an improvement in physical strength, but from what I know about golf, that's not the most important thing," Taylor said. "The side effects also would seem to be detrimental to a golfer. One of them is severe mood swings, and to succeed in golf at that level, I would guess the players would want to be on an even keel."

Tour players say holding their emotions in check is an important component of any round, tournament and season. Holmes, for example, said he would be leery of anything that got him too high or too low.

"Controlling your emotions is a lot more important than distance," he said.

Riehl said Tour players are afraid of two things: taking substances they think might be detrimental to their game (Woods, who suffers from frequent colds and allergies, won't even take over-the-counter medication on days he plays) and losing flexibility in their swings.

"Golf is a technique sport and the strongest guy doesn't always win," he said. "And distance is not necessarily a derivative of strength. Distance is being able to manufacture a faster clubhead speed through the ball. The faster the club hits the ball, the further it will go. You get that by being flexible. And I can also tell you right now, these guys [Tour players] are afraid of taking anything when they're playing."

And in the buried lead of the year department, Smits offers this from Gerry James, two-time World Long Drive champion...

James would not reveal any names, but he said he knows of some PGA Tour players who use a low-dose testosterone cream to help recovery from muscle strain and fatigue. He said they are being used in amounts small enough that don't enhance a player's ability to hit the ball farther.

Whether the amount in those situations is within tolerance limits under a future Tour testing program is up to the Tour, he said.

"Just to ensure the honor of the game"

Steve Elling quotes a pair of LPGA greats on the drug testing, and miraculously, they do not whip out the we call penalties on ourselves so therefore testing isn't necessary card:

"As long as they don't test for wine, I think I'm all right," Kerr said, laughing. "I think it's great that we have a policy now, just to ensure the honor of the game, the way it was meant to be played. If you got nothing to hide, you got nothing to worry about."

Said world No. 1 Annika Sorenstam: "I don't really think we are going to see anything out here, so it might be a waste of time. But if it gives peace of mind for people, and if we need to prove to them that the LPGA is clean, then let's do it."