"It's all for show."

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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.

If You Missed The 2009 Hall Of Fame Ceremony...

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You missed a dandy. The entire production seemed to be the finest I've seen in terms of Golf Channel production values (great video of Mark Cubbedge and team looting Lanny's office), great speeches, classy hosting by Rich Lerner and mercifully, only bursts of the mildy maudlin music that has plagued previous ceremonies.

You can read the entire transcript here. Jose Maria Olazabal's speech was particularly touching, as was the scene of the tough guy Wadkins brothers crying. I doubt the transcript will do it justice.

Gary Van Sickle sums up the highlights from his perspective.

If anyone sees clips of the speeches online, let me know and we'll post them. Golf Channel did post this nice Golf Central telecast preview.

"I just wish they had gone to a straight, old, traditional V groove..."

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Great stuff from Lanny Wadkins on many topics prior to his Hall of Fame induction, but the final comments about grooves are the most interesting:

I like the idea of trying to get back to V grooves. I just wish they had gone to a straight, old, traditional V groove because what they're doing with going to an area, the amount of area that's in the groove, which is basically going to shallower U grooves if you will, the manufacturers are going to figure out a way around it. They're going to figure out a way to keep as much spin as possible in the ball. I would love to see it back in the V grooves we played in the early '70s. No reason they couldn't do that in my mind and just be very straight forward about it, and I think it would require more imagination in today's game. I think it would involve ball changes for a lot of the guys on TOUR. With the changes they're making today that probably won't happen as readily as we thought it was going to. It would involve driver changes.

I mean, my generation has changed all the way along the line. We've changed from shafts that weren't frequency matched, then we went to frequently matched shafts. Then we went to wooden clubs that were heavy, 14 and a half ounces for a driver, a shaft that weighed 135 grams, which is probably what mine weighed early '70s, mid '80s at that point in time. We've changed to small-headed metal clubs to big-headed metal grooves to U grooves to balls that don't spin. My generation has changed all the way up. This generation like where my boys are, my boys have always played the same stuff. They've never hit a wooden club. They're 21 and 17, all they've known is big-headed metal stuff.

I think it's about time. This generation has to change something. Let's see if they've got some imagination.

And the thing about it is, guess who's been playing V grooves all along? Tiger Woods. All he's got to change is two clubs in his bag. He's got to change his 56 and his 60. He doesn't have to change balls, driver, nothing. Let's just give Tiger a bigger advantage. Just what he needs, right?

PGA Tour Announces An Anti-Doping Suspension

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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.