"THE FIRST 10 YEARS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM"

Okay, it's a slow news week so why not enjoy some perspective-giving stats from Dave Lancer of the PGA Tour. My favorite belongs to Tim Petrovic and his three (!) double eagles:


THE FIRST 10 YEARS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM

The PGA TOUR has just concluded the first 10 years of play in the new millennium and we’ve compiled some notes and statistics from play over that span.

Not to anyone’s surprise, Tiger Woods won the most tournaments (56), but who had the most holes in one or the most double eagles?  Read below to find out that and more.

Most Wins
Tiger Woods                56
Vijay Singh                 26
Phil Mickelson              24
Kenny Perry                11
David Toms                 9
Jim Furyk                    9
Ernie Els                      9
Justin Leonard              8
Retief Goosen               7
Sergio Garcia               7
Mike Weir                     7
Davis Love III               7
K.J. Choi                      7
Adam Scott                  7

Most Top 10s
Tiger Woods                121
Vijay Singh                  118
Phil Mickelson               96
Jim Furyk                     93
Ernie Els                      73
David Toms                  73
Davis Love III               67
Stewart Cink                64
Jerry Kelly                    62
Scott Verplank              60

Holes in One—310
Most by one player—Robert Allenby (6)
Longest—Jay Williamson, 250 yards at #6 Quail Hollow, 2008 Wachovia
Shortest—Mike Heinen, 106 yards, #7 Pebble Beach, 2002 AT&T National Pro-Am

Double Eagles—38
Most by one player—Tim Petrovic (3)

479 Tournaments
169 Different Winners
103 Playoffs
Played in 28 states
Played in nine countries outside the U.S.—Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, Australia, Spain, Ireland, Puerto Rico and South Africa (Presidents Cup)

Winners came from 18 countries outside the U.S.—South Africa, Australia, Sweden, Paraguay, Fiji, Northern Ireland,  Spain, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, England, Trinidad & Tobago, Ireland, Argentina, Colombia, Scotland

Different International winners—45
Total victories by international players--152
Most individual winners—Australia, 12
Most victories by one country—Australia, 33

Most individual wins by international players:

Vijay Singh                26
Ernie Els                    9
K.J. Choi                    7
Adam Scott                7
Sergio Garcia             7
Mike Weir                  7
Retief Goosen            7
Geoff Ogilvy              6
Stuart Appleby          5
Padraig Harrington     5
Rory Sabbatini           5

Number of players who won majors—22
Players who won more than one major--       

Tiger Woods                12
Padraig Harrington        3
Phil Mickelson               3
Angel Cabrera               2
Retief Goosen               2
Vijay Singh                   2

Number of rookies to win—24
Number who have won again—14

Number of different players in their 20s to win—44
Total victories by players in their 20s—117
Most different players in their 20s to win in one year—13 (2008)
Most victories in one year by 20-somethings—20 (2000)
Most by one player in his 20s—31, Tiger Woods

Number of different players in their 40s to win—39
Total victories by players in their 40s—86
Most different players in their 40s to win in one year—10 (2003)
Most victories in one year by 40-somethings—14 (2003)
Most by one player in his 40s—22, Vijay Singh

Most money won—Tiger Woods, $76,349,910 

“Intent doesn’t factor in for a couple of reasons"

I can tell how passionate you all are about this Doug Barron drug testing story since no one passed along Rex Hoggard's story highlighting the tour's response after some of us called them out for not responding to Barron's claims. (Isn't it special how they chose Golf Channel and GolfChannel.com as their outlet of choice.)

Rich Young, the tour's attorney made what seems like a fair point:

“Intent doesn’t factor in for a couple of reasons,” Young said. “It would be very hard to prove what’s in somebody’s head and why they used a banned substance. Secondly, the rules are clear on this. They know what they are allowed to use. Doug clearly used testosterone even though he knew he wasn’t allowed to.”

Young also addressed concerns the Tour’s punishment of Barron, who played just one Tour event in 2009 and has not made enough in the last three seasons to cover the potential $500,000 fine for his violation, was too harsh when compared to other sports like baseball, which suspended Los Angeles slugger Manny Ramirez for a blatant doping violation for 50 games this season, or one-third of a season.

“When he was told he couldn’t do (testosterone, although Young concedes Barron’s use of beta blockers is a more “complicated” issue), he may not have liked the decision, but for him to ignore the decision is a flat out intent to violate the rules,” he said. “He may not have done it to become Barry Bonds, but he was told what the rules were and chose to break them.”

"We are pleased with the court's decision and have no further comment at this time"

Bob Harig on Doug Barron losing in court:

In his ruling, Pham wrote that Barron's participating in the qualifying round this week "could raise substantial public policy concerns regarding the enforcement of anti-doping policies in professional sports."

According to Barron's attorney and representative Art Thorne, Barron tested positive this summer for two banned substances -- testosterone and a beta-blocker -- both of which Barron said he has been taking for years as prescribed by a doctor.

Barron had sought a therapeutic use exemption for the drugs last year but was denied by the PGA Tour. His lawyers argued that he was not trying to gain an unfair advantage, that he took the drugs under a doctor's supervision and that he made no secret about it.

Barron, who played in just one PGA Tour event this year -- the Memphis St. Jude Classic where the random drug test was administered -- and four on the Nationwide Tour, was in Texas on Monday where he hoped to tee it up in the 72-hole qualifier which begins Wednesday at Deerwood Golf Club in McKinney.

Alex Miceli posts this very interesting timeline on Barron's career, with notes about how far back he has relied on beta-blockers.

Oct. 22, 2008 – Commissioner Tim Finchem denies appeal and instructs Barron to begin weaning himself off the drug.

2008 – Barron earns only $33,446 in 17 events on the Nationwide Tour.

Jan. 20 or 21*, 2009 – Tour denies the TUE for exogenous testosterone and instructs Barron to stop taking the drug. (* The Tour and Barron have different dates for the decision.)

Spring – Barron starts to take Lyrica as a substitute for Propranolol.

Early June – A doctor injects Barron with exogenous testosterone.

June 11 – Barron is drug-tested at the St. Jude Classic.

June 15 – Barron misses the cut at St. Jude.

2009 – Barron’s sample is found to contain Propranolol and testosterone.

July 23, Aug. 12 – Barron provides additional information to the Tour about his use of Propranolol and testosterone.

Oct. 20 – The Tour suspends Barron for one year (until Sept. 20, 2010) for violating the anti-doping ban on performance-enhancing drugs.

A cynic (which I certainly am not) might read that account and think the Commissioner didn't like Barron ignoring his recommendation to start weaning himself off of his prescribed drugs. Hard to imagine how Barron would not have faith in the Commissioner's medical expertise. Shocking, frankly.

Bubble Bursts At Disney, PGATour.com Not There To Cover It?

There was much kvetching about the lack of Orlando Sentinel coverage for the Children's Miracle Network event at Disney World, but the real story was in PGATour.com's odd choice not to send someone to the final tour event of the year. Instead they posted AP game stories and a live blog, yet that wasn't enough when there are so many intriguing storylines like finalization of the top 125 and determination of tour cards for the following year.  Inevitably great storylines develop and the web becomes a prime source for family, friends, acquaintances and former pro-am partners to see how their horses are doing.

It's also disconcerting to see such coverage when the event is played in the same state as tour headquarters and where the sponsor is propping up a long time event popular with players.

Thankfully, we got compelling accounts of the final day's play and money list scenarios from Steve Elling (here), Bob Harig (here) and Sean Martin (here).

I know, those three probably did the job better than PGATour.com would when their writers file in fear of little men with a red pen scribbling away edgier details. But with media consolidation the tour's own site often becomes a primary source of news. How can they be trusted when they aren't even giving an important event serious coverage? (Not to mention the decision not to post a story about Doug Barron's lawsuit).

Most of all, what does the lack of coverage say about the home office's view of the Fall Finish and the event at Disney?

"It's all for show."

GolfDigest.com's Matthew Rudy notes that Doug Barron's previous use of beta blockers may have behind his suspension. An as someone who has done quite a bit of reporting on the subjects, Rudy reminds us of several loopholes in drug testing

Say Barron really is the only one to fail a test in the 15 months the tour has been running its program. All that proves is that he didn't find one of the loopholes in the banned drug list. And if he's not the first person to fail, the Tour's drug testing program serves the exact, cynical purpose Yesalis said many sports leagues' programs do.

It's all for show.

PGA Tour Announces An Anti-Doping Suspension

The unthinkable has occurred: the PGA Tour went public with a performance-enhancing substance violation and suspension. No details beyond the length of suspension and the name of the player were released.

November 2, 2009

From the Office of the Commissioner:


The PGA TOUR announced today that Doug Barron has violated the PGA TOUR Anti-Doping Policy's ban on the use of performance-enhancing substances and has been suspended for one year. The suspension will commence immediately.  This is the first suspension under the PGA TOUR Anti-Doping Program.

"I would like to apologize for any negative perception of the TOUR or its players resulting from my suspension. I want my fellow TOUR members and the fans to know that I did not intend to gain an unfair competitive advantage or enhance my performance while on TOUR," said Barron.

The TOUR will have no further comment on the suspension at this time.

So a year suspension for what he says was an unintentional attempt? Sounds like the tour did not agree.

I know the commissioner has been very transparent in saying that he resisted this program because--"We had to deal with that from a defensive standpoint from an image perspective"--but you'd to at least think they wouldn't make the first suspendee apologize for an image chink in the press release?

How about, I'm sorry I did this to my body, setting a terrible example for the youth of America.

Or maybe even no comment beyond a simple apology?

Either way, maybe Barron started using some physique building stuff after this odd photo of him ran on ESPN.com a few years ago.

Anyone know why he wasn't wearing his shirt? **Jason Sobel explained the incident here.