"'If people are speculating about golf, let's get it over now.'"

Thomas Bonk files a front (sports) page story on Tiger's call for drug testing, with several interesting quotes. Starting with Tiger's agent, Mark Steinberg:

"There's a lot out there right now, with BALCO, the cycling and the sprinters, so what he's saying is, 'Start with golf, start with me. I'm clean and I think the sport's clean,' " Steinberg said Friday.

" 'If people are speculating about golf, let's get it over now.' "

And some experts weigh in:

Added Charles Yesalis, professor emeritus at Penn State and an expert in performance-enhancing drugs and sports, "Anyone who doesn't say it's a can of worms or that it's a time bomb that is going to explode in your face is nuts. "Given what [baseball Commissioner] Bud Selig went through with his stupidity, with the way he handled it, golf, before it gets hauled into court, should start with something. That's what the smart money would do.

"I've heard every excuse, every rationale you could ever think of, and to listen to the spin of the holier-than-thous — the spin people always point their finger in every direction other than the right one — is misguided.

"With a ton of money involved in golf, there's talk of beta blockers, low doses of human growth hormone, and if you already have the 10th of a 10th of a 10th of a percentage of the public that is good enough to play the PGA Tour, then you take that guy and add 10 pounds of muscle, are you telling me the ball won't go farther?"

And, in response to Finchem's position: 

"Although the 'Chariots of Fire' model is interesting, that's not the world we live in," John Hoberman, an expert on drugs in sports at the University of Texas, said Friday.

Because there is no PGA Tour list of illegal performance-enhancing substances, drugs such as beta blockers, which have a tranquilizing effect on users, could find their way into golf, according to Hoberman.

"The real threat to golf, with all hell breaking out in baseball because of steroids, are the drugs that would probably be more useful, say the beta blockers, for calmness, self-control, lack of anxiety, steady hands, attention and focus, all qualities that would seem useful in putting," he said Friday.