AKRON, Ohio -- The PGA Tour is one of the few major sports
organizations that does not have a drug testing program, and
commissioner Tim Finchem said Wednesday that's not about to change.
Finchem was defensive about the tour's lack of a drug policy -- the tour doesn't even publish a list of banned drugs -- and suggested that it was not worth testing without any evidence that players were using performance-enhancing drugs.
"I don't know that we would go out there and start testing everybody because we had a problem with one player. Having said that, if we had reason to believe that we had a pattern developing or any kind of substantial use at all, we would be fully prepared to take very aggressive action."
-- PGA commissioner Tim Finchem
"I don't think we're naive," Finchem said at the Bridgestone
Invitational. "I think we're very aggressive in having the
capability to do whatever is necessary. But we need more than
somebody just saying, 'Why don't you go test and make sure?"'
The Royal & Ancient Golf Club, which sets the rules for everywhere in the world except the United States and Mexico, plans a random test at the World Amateur Team championship in South Africa in October.
R&A chief Peter Dawson said at the British Open he doesn't think golf has a problem with performance-enhancing drugs, but that he
would support drug testing if necessary.
Finchem said if he had any indication a player was using illegal
drugs, the tour likely would confront the player.
"I don't know that we would go out there and start testing
everybody because we had a problem with one player," he said.
"Having said that, if we had reason to believe that we had a
pattern developing or any kind of substantial use at all, we would
be fully prepared to take very aggressive action."
Finchem said he expects his players to follow the rules, whether
that means taking illegal drugs or signing for a lower score.
"I don't know of other sports where players have made a mistake on their scorecard or called a penalty on themselves that has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. That happens every year on the PGA Tour. I'm not prepared to throw all that out just because somebody is waving their hand and saying, 'Gee whiz, all the other sports are testing; why aren't you?'"
-- PGA commissioner Tim Finchem
"I don't know of other sports where players have made a mistake
on their scorecard or called a penalty on themselves that has cost
them hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said. "That happens
every year on the PGA Tour. I'm not prepared to throw all that out
just because somebody is waving their hand and saying, 'Gee whiz,
all the other sports are testing; why aren't you?"'
He said the tour bans illegal drugs or prescription drugs that
belong to someone else. But that wouldn't account for all the drugs
listed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
How would he know if a player is using illegal drugs without
testing them? Finchem said he wouldn't know if players were
cheating -- such as moving a ball from under a tree -- if they didn't
turn themselves in.
He also said starting a drug testing program would not end media
scrutiny.
"If we didn't find something wrong, I doubt seriously whether
the stories would be that we don't have a problem," he said. "My
guess is stories would be, 'You're not testing right. Why did you
test to begin with? You must have thought there was a problem.'
"We would then be in the same kettle with other sports that we
think we're different from."