"Other players have reportedly received TUEs. Why?"

Doug Barron continues to make a convincing case for a Therapeutic Use Exemption while raising questions about the tour's desire to single him out.

I played four Nationwide events early in 2009 and was never tested (I think because officials knew about my condition). In June, I received a sponsor's exemption to the Tour's St. Jude Classic. As the tournament approached, I was so depleted I could hardly get out of bed, so I took a shot of testosterone. I knew I was tempting fate.

I shot 72 in the first round, and was then asked to supply a urine sample. Last November, I was notified that I'd tested positive. I was suspended and blocked from Q school. I planned to appeal, but commissioner Tim Finchem, the sole arbiter in such cases, told me I'd never win.

Other players have reportedly received TUEs. Why? What are their levels and what are they taking? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but one Tour round, one drug test, for a guy with a widely known issue, didn't feel right. Was I being made an example?

Of course. But why is the question that will inevitably be answered in court. And we know how well that worked out last time.

"What we're saying is, 'Guys, you've got to lay back of this cliff because you won't have any rough to stop your ball if you hit it too long.'"

We've heard a lot about the elimination of turf buffers along the cliffs at Pebble Beach but haven't seen much in the way of images. The look of turf right into the cliffs is sensational, though I can already hear the bitching by players!

Brett Avery reports on some additional last minute tweaks to the U.S. Open setup and provides some images of the changes. The work on No. 8 seems sure to make players a little less aggressive with their tee shot lay-ups.

The aiming rock was removed and the fairway shifted dramatically to the right, toward the cliff, long ago in preparation for the event. But only a few days ago the mowers removed all rough at the end of the fairway, too.

Update on 2010-05-18 00:05 by Geoff

Rob Matre offers some perspective on how the buffer between golf course and cliff looked at Pebble Beach prior to this change.

The Stevie Firing Watch Commences?

Slipped into John Huggan's column on Hank Haney was this about Tiger looper Stevie Williams.

Last week at the Players, Williams was even more taciturn than usual, a fact that betrayed a growing frustration with both his boss and the rubbish golf he was playing at Sawgrass. There seemed to be little or no interaction between the pair, even at times when Williams would normally be expected to step up and get in his man's ear.

There are growing rumours too that Mrs Williams (a close friend of the soon-to-be ex-Mrs Woods), disgusted by the salacious behaviour of Woods over the past few months, is keen for her husband to work in a, shall we say, cleaner atmosphere.

It is rather apparent in person that the old Stevie-Tiger vibe is gone, with Stevie much less animated and the conversations between the two minimized.

"Now I question everything he says."

Hank Haney's insights into Tiger's possible progress in his sex rehab should be questioned, but his thoughts on PED use by Tiger drew even more ridicule from the SI/golf.com gang:

Bamberger: Haney says that he doesn't believe Tiger ever used performance-enhancing drugs. I hope he's correct. But if Woods had, I think there is NO chance that Hank would have known about it. In my experience, athletes who have used PEDs will lie to their grandmothers about it.

Morfit: Exactly. If I'm Tiger and I'm taking PEDs, I'm not picking up the phone and saying, "Hey, Hank, it's T — you'll never believe what I just put into my smoothie." Not going to happen.

Godich: There is no way Tiger would share THAT with anyone.

Morfit: Remember, this is a guy who wouldn't even tell us his neck hurt.

Herre: Haney says he didn't know about the women, either.

Evans: Remember guys, Hank was just an employee of Tiger, he wasn't a Jack Grout figure to him, some super-influential, fatherly figure full of pearls of wisdom.

Dusek: Hank said the only thing he saw Dr. Galea put in Tiger was what Galea had just taken out of Tiger and spun. But Hank can only really comment on what he saw. As Haney (and the rest of us) learned, there were lots of things in Tiger's life that were happening, but not out in the open.

Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: This is where Tiger's being untruthful about so many things comes back to haunt him. He has no credibility. Now I question everything he says.

Bobby Clampett, Please Quit Your Part-Time Day Job

With play like this, who needs fill-in gigs at CBS or Masters online? Right? Please?