Not a good start, Tim

By Neville Leck Last updated: 3rd November 2009

The US PGA Tour have not handled the announcement of US golf's first doping violation very well at all.

They have found guilty and suspended for a year a 40-year-old journeyman golfer, one Doug Barron, whose only claim to fame is that in 2006 he was widely pictured playing a shot out of water hazard without wearing a shirt, but they refused to name the crime he has committed - ie the offending drug he is purported to have been using and in what way it enhanced performance.

When PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem told Golf Channel late on Monday that the name of the drug would not be released in this instance, he was actually ignoring what I understand is a PGA Tour premise that in every case where punishment has been metered out for a doping violation, the PGA Tour will as a minimum, announce the name of the player, the anti-doping rule he transgressed and the punishment he has received.

In merely telling the media Barron violated policy on the use of performance-enhancing substances it is like the justice system telling us they have locked away a criminal for theft. I mean theft of what? A juicy apple, a loaf of bread, a million dollars or maybe a state secret.

Was Barron suspended for taking drugs that would build up his muscles and help him hit the ball further or perhaps a beta blocker that would calm him down or stimulants that would increase his focus? Or was he innocently taking the offending drug to improve his health? We don't know because The PGA Tour don't want us to know. Why?

Drug taking is at its worst in sport when cheats like some of our record-breaking Olympic athletes like Ben Johnson and Marion Jones used them to give themselves an advantage over their fellow competitors.

When they are taken for a health problem without the knowledge that it enhances performance, it is a far less serious offence that would almost be forgivable if it wasn't an athlete's duty to know which drugs are on the banned list.

Barron stressed in a statement on Monday that he had no intention of cheating the system.

He said: "I would like to apologise 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."

But without knowing which drug the poor fellow is talking about and why he was taking it, makes his apology pretty meaningless and serves only to remind us that questions will always be asked when there is no transparency.

The big question being asked in this case is this:

Those who know him will tell you that Barron was recently diagnosed with low testosterone by the same Memphis doctor who diagnosed the same condition for Shaun Micheel. The condition can require doses of testosterone to correct the imbalance and, the PGA Tour policy, I understand makes a provision for conditions like these via an exhaustive system that comes under the heading of 'therapeutic use exemptions'

Testosterone may have nothing whatsoever to do with Barron's suspension, but of that we'll never know and in the meantime there are a good few observers wondering if Barron is the victim of ignorance on the part of his dispensing practioner or maybe some hard-headed executioners so fired up with getting a PGA 'first' they haven't bothered to go deep enough into Barron's case.

Certainly that's the impression their shallow announcement gives so let's hope they learn from this.

Justice that is not seen to be just is of no use to anyone

Neville Leck