"Why Check?", PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem Against Testing in Golf

Golf is a game of honor and integrity. Those two words are the basis for the game of golf, where we are our own referees and the only ones who can protect the sacred values of the game. In an age of performance enhancing drugs dominating headlines in the sports world, with the stars such as Giambi, Mcguire, and of course Bonds, and even the lesser known being found guilty such as Gatlin and Grimsley, should golf start to test? At the time, golf is the only major sport not to have established a list of banned substances for tour players, let alone test for them. In the "power" generation for golf where the tour's weight rooms have been brought to life by players like Tiger Woods and Camillo Villegas it could be possible that players look for an extra edge in the power game. At the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem defended the tour's policy of denying use of performance enhancing drugs saying,"I don't think we're naive, 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 questioning of the PGA Tour's policy comes in response to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club decision to give random drug tests during the World Amateur Championship in South Africa. When asked what Finchem would do if a player was suspected of using a performance enhancing supplement, Finchem stated,"I don't know that we would go out there and start testing everybody because we had a problem with one player". Tiger Woods' said afterward in a press conference,"I don't know when we could get that implemented, tomorrow would be fine with me." Woods felt that the PGA Tour needs to step-in to protect the purity of the sport iteslf, not neccesiarily react to the problem already occuring. Woods related the current problem to his accusations about players using extremely high COR drivers, "Just like the driver situation, we were reactive there instead of proactive".

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