R&A's Dawson: Vijay Situation Will Lead To Testing Changes

Ewan Murray comes to Vijay Singh's defense and gets a surprising statement from R&A chief executive Peter Dawson who also is golf's representative with the International Golf Federation, and therefore the Olympic movement.

Singh admitted using the antler spray during an interview with Sports Illustrated. The spray reportedly contains IGF-1, a substance named among those banned by the PGA Tour. Singh's subsequent statement that he did not know what the antler spray contained would represent little or no defence.

That much is straightforward but IGF-1 would be detected only by a blood test, which the Tour does not undertake and, in any case, Singh has not been tested at all.

Dawson said: "You begin to wonder if your testing regimes are right. This is going to cause a lot of soul searching and I wouldn't be surprised if there are changes to procedure."

This is an odd statement for the reason Murray noted: that Singh did not fail a test. It's also strange in that the policy specifically states that even an attempt to acquire a banned substance is a violation. So how is the testing at fault when the policy was violated by an admission of guilt under the policy guidelines?

Also, deviating from the current policy could lead to golf not being in compliance with World Anti-Doping Association guidelines, therefore jeopardizing its place in the Olympics. Some people wouldn't mind that.

Olympic Wrestling Brouhaha: "It's golf that should never have been granted access in the first place."

Dan Wetzel is the first to take the outrage over wrestling's departure from the Olympic Games in 2016 and directly blame golf's inclusion.

Thanks to reader Patrick for what may be the first of several questioning golf's inclusion in light of the surprising decision to end wrestling's run as an original Olympic sport.

In part because golf and rugby are coming to the Olympics, something had to go. This time it was wrestling, apparently edged out by the modern pentathlon for survival.

As such, both freestyle (somewhat similar to what you see in American high schools and colleges) and Greco Roman, each of which dated back to the 1896 Games in Greece, will soon be history. Wrestling can try to get back in, but the odds are long.

This is a poor decision and it would be only slightly less poor of a decision if it was modern pentathlon (a five-event competition of fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting) that got the boot instead.
It's golf that should never have been granted access in the first place.

He goes on to make the case that the best Olympic sports are rare collections of the world gathering to compete. And we know that happens multiple times a year in golf.

Update on 2013-02-13 18:33 by Geoff

**Add WSJ's Jason Gay to the anti-golf group following yesterday's announcement:

And while I enjoy watching golf and playing golf, I need Olympic golf as much as my cat needs a Jacuzzi. And golf does not need the Olympics. At all. Golf already has plenty of high-profile professional platforms, both in terms of individual and international team play.

Update on 2013-02-13 19:35 by Geoff

**AP's Jim Litke on the politics behind wrestling's demise and the inclusion of other sports like golf.

Rather, it's the way the IOC tries to cash in by piggy-backing on formerly taboo pro sports and pandering to whatever demographic holds sway at the moment. That's why the Winter Olympics look more and more like the "X Games," and why basketball, soccer and tennis _ with golf and rugby on the way _ are now "core" sports, even though they're chockfull with paid mercenaries and boast championships way more prestigious than anything the Olympics could offer.

Drug Testing Coming To The U.S. Amateurs...

What administrative joy this will bring...click to enlarge the email that went out to past amateur participants today:

Trinity River Update: “I think most folks would be blown away by what’s out there"

Bill Nichols files an update on the Trinity River project ouside Dallas where Coore and Crenshaw have been hired to build a course for AT&T excecutives with the hope of one day hosting the Byron Nelson.

Trinity Forest will be cut in the mold of, say, Chicago Golf Club or Tulsa’s Southern Hills: No water, no trees; but lots of gnarly grasses swaying over a wind-blown landscape surrounded by forest and lowlands.

“The fairways will be expansive with meandering hills,” Coore said. “It will be a natural look with smooth contours that ripple and roll, ever cascading.”

From the highest point of the course, the No. 5 fairway, you can see downtown during winter months. That view will be blocked by trees the rest of the year.

Although there are no dramatic highs and lows, the elevation changes about 35 feet.

The layout promises to reward creativity. Three holes will cross a deep ravine. The most dramatic could be the par-3 No. 8, which goes downhill over the ravine with forest to the right.

Two Calls For Vijay Singh To Step Away

ESPN.com's Bob Harig asks, "How is it that Singh is even playing?"

He's referring to admitted doping policy violator Vijay Singh, who is in the field this week at Riviera for the Northern Trust Open as some feel his situation becomes a distraction for the tour each week he plays.

Because his status is under review, Singh is permitted to play, although there is a possibility that any official earnings or world ranking points could be rescinded, depending on the outcome of Finchem's investigation.

This much is clear: If Singh took a banned substance, knowingly or not, he has to be penalized by the tour's own rules. Ignorance is not a defense, nor is the argument that deer spray or IGF-1 is ineffective; it has been on the tour's banned substance list since the drug testing program began in 2008. Players were warned in 2011 about deer-antler spray in literature and emails widely circulated.

Doug Ferguson also submits a commentary suggesting that Singh should take a leave of absense until his situation is resolved.

Under the anti-doping policy, the Tour is required to disclose the name, confirm the violation and declare the penalty.

So far, there has been silence.

This is not a call for the Tour to rush to judgment. Singh's case is muddled. Yes, a player who admits to using a banned substance is the same as a player testing positive. But is there evidence that IGF-1 was in the spray that Singh was using? More than one doctor has said it's impossible for IGF-1 to enter the blood system through a spray. And the Tour does not have a blood test, anyway.

Plus, players have the right to appeal, and the policy says a hearing must take place within 45 days.

Singh brought this mess on himself, and now is the time for him to give back to the game that has provided him with so much. Singh could eliminate this distraction by taking a leave of absence until the Tour sorts this out. The sooner the better.

Update on 2013-02-13 01:07 by Geoff

**James Corrigan in the Telegraph sees it the other way, responding to much of the criticism in Europe, though this discounts the doping violation language which does not require a positive test. An admission of attempting to take a banned substance is enough.

The Tour will also know by now that minute quantities of IGF-1 may be found in milk and beef and many other products it would not think to outlaw. It will have heard the generally held view of the experts that it is impossible to absorb IGF-1 in the body if it is not injected.

Indeed, it may well prove the case that Singh was actually less ignorant than the authorities.

The lynch mob are loudly baying for Singh’s sporting life. They would presumably be satisfied with the potential scenario of a man being banished from his profession for unknowingly doing nothing wrong?

This absurdity is where hysteria has taken sport and the vigilantes’ demand for action is set to become more shrill with the revelations of widespread doping in Australia. The temptation is to declare that here is a simple case of good against evil. But it is not necessarily black and white. The Singh affair shows it can be a mess of grey.

Comcast Buys The Rest Of NBC From GE

Golf Channel's parent company is all in now!

From Yahoo news.

Snedeker Sidelined By "Sore Ribs"

Now before you go wondering how someone can play like Brandt Snedeker has with "sore ribs" do remember that he has rib issues before, including playing with a cracked rib last year.

Rex Hoggard reports on Snedeker's WD from next week's WGC Match Play:

Snedeker’s Sea Island (Ga.)-based trainer Randy Myers told GolfChannel.com that he strained the rib during a practice round at the Humana Challenge and re-aggravated the injury on Thursday at Pebble Beach. Snedeker had an X-ray on Monday in California and is awaiting the results of that test. He plans to return to Nashville, Tenn., later this week to meet with his doctor, Dr. James Elrod.

“He felt like he was playing well enough after the Humana he wanted to keep playing,” Myers said. “His biggest concern is he worked so hard to become a No. 1 seed (for the Match Play) and he’s played well there, (but) this is just preventative.”

The reigning FedEx Cup champion could return in time for the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March.

Snedeker sustained a cracked rib at last year’s RBC Heritage and missed the better part of the next three months recovering.