PGA Tour's drug testing comes under scrutiny as 2016 Rio Olympics approach
When the PGA Tour adopted its Anti-Doping Program in 2008, many players and media members questioned the testing's implementation.
Now, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency has issues with the Tour's regimen as well. With golf set to return to the Olympics in 2016 after a century's absence, questions about the program could force the Tour to take a closer look at its plan.
Seven years ago, the PGA Tour implemented a large percentage of WADA's drug-testing program. Though the Tour considers its program a success, the testing excludes certain substances, ignores most aspects of transparency and distinguishes among violations for performance-enhancing and recreational drugs, a distinction that WADA does not make.
"They are not a signatory of ours, so they don't belong to the WADA community," David Howman, WADA's director general, said in a far-reaching interview with Golfweek. "They are disassociating themselves from us but on occasions saying that they follow some of the rules that we have. So it's a bit of a mishmash at the moment."
The Tour made exceptions from the WADA list because of the widespread use of certain substances that came with no perceived performance benefit, said Tour spokesman Ty Votaw, an International Golf Federation vice president. Those substances include corticosteroids (anti-inflammatories), certain allergy and asthma medications and, with limitations, pseudoephedrine (a decongestant).
Often, players and their representatives don't understand why certain drugs are on the Tour's banned list, given the fact that golf poses different physical demands than, say, track or swimming.
Howman contends that golfers should be treated no differently than other athletes in drug testing.
"There was a time when people said that EPO (erythropoietin, a hormone associated with production of red blood cells) was only used by those who were involved in endurance sports, and yet Marion Jones used it," said Howman, referring to the disgraced American sprinter of 2000 Olympics infamy. "I just think there's no connection between what the purists might say might give an advantage to an individual in a certain sport and what people actually try. I think we lose sight of the fact that people who are cheating are cheating using all sorts of methods and all sorts of substances to try to get an edge."
According to Votaw, WADA may in fact be looking at the testing regime differently by creating tailored lists for each sport.
"The direction WADA is going in is to create sports-specific lists so that there will be smart lists, if you will, where the only things that are tested for are those substances where there is a concern or belief that those substances are performance-enhancing," Votaw said. "That's a direction they are going in, from our perspective."
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem hinted during a news conference March 8 at Trump National Doral, site of the WGC-Cadillac Championship, that the Tour also might be considering policy changes, with an eye on the 2016 Rio Games.
"We don't think they are significant differences, but at least at this moment -- although we may add some things to our program at about the same time they are looking at some other things, and I don't want to complicate this too much," said Finchem, noting differences in WADA's testing and the Tour's program in advance of the Olympics.
With the Olympics a little more than a year away, the International Golf Foundation, a signatory to the WADA program, will implement the full WADA regimen for those players who could compete in the Olympics. Officials will test against the full WADA list and likely utilize blood testing.
The WADA testing protocol allows for urine and blood testing, competition day or not, but subjects athletes to testing anywhere, even beyond the event site. WADA requires all athletes to be in the testing pool. In golf, the pool will be determined by the IGF from players on the Olympic Golf Rankings list, which is being compiled weekly based on the Official World Golf Ranking. Those players in the pool will be required to provide their whereabouts for the 13 weeks leading up to the Olympics, starting May 6, on an hourly basis from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
Most players are comfortable with the need for blood testing when asked, but would rather have the tests done during non-competition weeks.
"I'm all for more testing, the better," world No. 1 Rory McIlroy said. "I don't think they should blood-test at tournaments. If you've ever had a needle in here (pointing to an arm), you get a dead arm for a day. But out of competition, testing is no problem at all."
Said Geoff Ogilvy: "I'd be a bit disappointed if you had any sort of weird hurt afterwards or it affected you afterwards. I wouldn't have any problem with it maybe Tuesday or Monday or something. But Thursday after your round, you want to go hit some balls and it's a little bit weird. That's not quite right, is it?"
Said Ian Poulter: "I would be very concerned personally with someone sticking a needle in my arm before or during a tournament, for the simple reason I've had several. I give blood samples during the season anyways to test my own blood for all my own reasons, and sometimes I get severe irritation from that, and it's an issue."
However, Howman does not empathize with the players' concerns.
"We haven't seen any medical evidence of blood testing at the time of competition in other sports being impactful upon the health of the individual or the performance of the individual," Howman said. "So we need to see proof or scientific or medical evidence of the suggestion that it would impact on performance."
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