Friday, January 25, 2008
Is Drug Testing Taking Place On A Level Playing Field?

If Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson give something their approval (and it is rare that they see eye to eye on anything) then, naturally, you assume everything’s kosher. The thing is, the pair were talking about the recently introduced drug-test plan on the PGA Tour, which naturally favours players on the tour (who are predominately American) rather than favouring worldwide fairness.

While most concede that golf needs some form of testing to prove it’s clean, the PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem doesn’t believe the sport will encounter the same problems as cycling, baseball or athletics: “I just don’t see it becoming a problem,” said Finchem. “What I do see as a problem is that people don’t believe that.”

The main flaw of the testing-plan is that is not universal. There are differences in policies between the US PGA and other tours. With some nations having more stringent rules than others there is a real chance that a law-abiding player in one tournament could be a ‘drug cheat’ in another.

Finchem sees the danger. Players who don’t have awareness of testing programmes can potentially left themselves open for accidental positive tests putting pressure on globetrotters like Ernie Els to be extra careful with what they consume.          

“Guys like that, they are going to have to watch what they take, pay more attention to it,” said Woodsy about this, who will probably not be fussed about the changes, as he will only venture outside America once or twice a year to play a tournament.


The 2010 Ryder Cup Team yesterday.

Mickelson believes there are no problems of doping in golf, but felt it was a positive thing to have an anti-doping policy in place to preserve golf’s integrity.

“I don’t think there’s anything there to find but it’s better to have testing there, it will show that golfers hold the rules of golf in high esteem, not just on the course, but off it as well,” said the world number two.

Having an anti-doping policy is all well and good fellas, but if in America you can get away with taking some things where you can’t in another country, then the World-Anti-Doping-Agency have dug a divot that might cause more problems than they solve.




1/25/2008 1:40:53 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #  Comments [2] 


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