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Many golfers feel PGA Tour's procedure in five-week-old plan invades privacy
By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Wednesday, Jul 30, 2008
When Tim Clark stepped out of the scoring trailer July 3 after the first round of the AT&T National, the diminutive South African was so incensed he could barely talk.
The PGA Tour's drug-testing program had begun two days before, and Clark had just learned that he was one of the first chosen to submit a sample.
''Actually I can't speak to you,'' Clark said. ''I've been selected.''
He stalked off toward the Congressional clubhouse, leaving his caddie apologizing in his wake.
The next day, Clark still had strong feelings about the testing, announced in November by tour commissioner Tim Finchem. It will also be implemented by 2009 on the Nationwide and Champions tours.
''It's an inconvenience to us,'' Clark said. ''I'm not taking anything illegal. Golf's always been a game of honor and calling penalties on yourself. I guess that's what the world's come to now. I guess no one can trust anyone.''
With testing in its fifth week as the world's top players visit Firestone Country Club for the $8 million Bridgestone Invitational, the issue has faded some.
''I don't think anybody was really worried about it,'' said tour rookie Chez Reavie, winner of last
week's Canadian Open. ''I'm used to it because I had to do it in college. A lot of guys who have been out here a long time, it's definitely something new for them.''
As Boo Weekley said Tuesday: ''We never really talked about it before. It was more the media talking about it. It's part of the job.''
When the program began, several players debated whether banned substances would be of any help, anyway.
''If you become bigger and stronger, that normally affects your touch, so what you're picking up somewhere you're probably giving away somewhere else,'' said Australia's Peter Lonard, who has no problem with the policy.
''Stimulants, I don't see how that helps you because you've got to be calm under pressure, not ready to run through walls. I would have thought the only important thing for golf that could probably help is beta blockers. I think the Olympic shooters used to take it to steady their hand.''
Drive for Olympics
But Lonard said testing makes sense, since the International Golf Federation has launched a bid to become an Olympic sport in 2016.
''Anything that has to do with the Olympics has that sort of thing,'' he said.
Rocco Mediate and Paul Azinger have been among the harshest critics.
''It's the biggest joke in the history of the world,'' Mediate said in an interview with ESPN.com. ''You could sit in the parking lot and drink a fifth of vodka, and you might get a fine. But if you take Vicks VapoRub, you've got to go through the whole system.''
In February, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Azinger told Sports Illustrated: ''They want us to pee into a cup with our trousers at our ankles and our shirts hiked up our chests with some guy watching us to make sure we don't have a jar of urine taped to our leg. It's so degrading.
''If you polled the players, you'd find 95 percent of them think the time has come to have mandatory drug testing. Zero percent would say we're doing it the right way.''
Fred Funk doesn't believe what Gary Player, 72, said before the 2007 British Open when he stunned the golf community by stating: ''Whether it's HGH, whether it's creatine or whether it's steroids, I know for a fact that some golfers are doing it.''
Player said one confessed to him in confidence.
''I don't think you're going to find a guy who's taking anabolic steroids, definitely not,'' Funk said this month.
''And HGH has been thrown under the bus with with anabolics, I don't think it should be. From what I know about HGH, it's just like a wellness drug. It doesn't enhance muscle performance, it's more of a recovery thing. That's like the new-age steroid, but it doesn't hurt you unless you take it in mass quantities. I don't think that would be an issue out there at all, either.''
Law of averages
Australia's Stuart Appleby said at Congressional that he was sure the tests would turn up some ''societal'' or ''recreational'' drugs, presumably marijuana, even though players have had plenty of warning to stop.
''I don't think you'll see anyone off the tour or banned,'' Appleby said.
''But the law of averages say there has to be somebody taking something that is taboo. There's no way you've got 250 pros totally clean. You would be naive to think that.''
As they prepared for the inauguration of testing, players took offense on two fronts. They objected to the privacy issue and worried they could inadvertently run afoul of the rules by drinking a protein shake or taking cold medicine.
''The whole privacy thing just bothers me; you've got to have a witness,'' Sean O'Hair said. ''Some guy's invading your space, which I'm not very cool with. But what I say is not going to change anything.''
Kenny Perry said in late June that he had given up the protein shakes for breakfast, because the ingredients weren't approved by the tour.
''You could go to a Jamba Juice and get a smoothie and there's something in that,'' Mike Weir said. ''You've got to be careful.''
Tiger Woods, the world'sNo. 1 player sidelined for the year after knee surgery, said he has tested himself to make sure nothing in his nutrition regimen is in violation.
Finchem opposed testing for years, because he believed golfers police themselves. But when the program began, he went first.
''We're going down this road because all sports are viewed by fans and the media as having issues in this area, whether we do or not,'' Finchem said July 2. ''With cycling and baseball in recent years, it's become intense with the involvement of Capitol Hill. The only way to have a credible program and meet the basic tenets of the anti-doping world is to have observed testing.''
That might not convince every tour member.
''In golf I don't think testing needs to be done,'' Silver Lake's Ryan Armour said. ''If someone wants to take drugs out here, fine, more power to them. We police ourselves; golf's always been that way.
''You can count on one hand how many times in the last 50 years you've actually heard someone accused of cheating. It's one of those sports where the integrity of the game and the integrity of the people who play it win out over performance enhancement.''
But the rank and file have no choice, even if they believe that the use of banned substances would be pointless.
''Last time I checked, I don't think there's a drug that helps us think better,'' O'Hair said.
Marla Ridenour can be reached
at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com.
When Tim Clark stepped out of the scoring trailer July 3 after the first round of the AT&T National, the diminutive South African was so incensed he could barely talk.
Get the full article here.
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