Van de Velde thrilled to see drug testing rollout
While best remembered still for his amazing last-hole collapse in the 1999 Open, Van de Velde is a member of the European Tour’s board of directors and has long held the view that golf needs to start probing into whether cheats are playing the game.
“I said it over two years ago — I raised the subject,” says the Frenchman, who could himself become the first player to be tested during the European Open, starting tomorrow at The London Club in Kent.
“We are in a highly-paid sport and we have to take it by the horns and test.
“Listen, who is to believe that we are the only clean sport in the world, whether it’s recreational or performance-enhancing drugs?
“It would be silly, immature, stupid to think that. Unless I am proven wrong I am always suspicious.
“I’m not saying golfers are taking things to multiply their muscles by 10, but now we will see.”
It is not completely new on the circuit as the French government has carried out tests at the French Open in the past. Five years ago Van de Velde’s compatriot Marc Farry tested positive for a steroid, but was cleared after explaining it was in a medically-prescribed Cortisone injection used to combat a wrist injury.
David Howell, Irishman Graeme McDowell, Philip Golding, Peter O’Malley and Francois Delamontagne were also tested that week, but returned negative samples.
Van de Velde recalls turning down the chance to go to a rock concert in America because he was competing in the French Open the following week and was worried his system would contain traces of cannabis smoked by people around him.
Regular meetings have been held at Tour events this season for players to talk with drugs officials about the new anti-doping policy, agreed by all the main circuits of the world last autumn after Gary Player’s shock claim at The Open that he knew “for a fact” that some golfers were drug-taking. He did not name any names.
The European Tour has stated only that testing will commence “after July 1”, but has not been specific about the date or the number of players to be tested.
The Open in two weeks will not have testing because qualifying began before the education process had been completed, so the first major in the scheme is the US PGA next month and the Ryder Cup in September could also see players summoned.
Thomas Bjorn, chairman of the European Tour’s tournament committee, stated: “It’s obviously new to all of us and is going to kick up a bit of fuss at first because of the uncertainty while waiting for results.
“But everybody will get used to it and it’s making them think a bit more about what they’re doing.
“You don’t want to kick somebody when they’ve done nothing wrong, but if somebody is doing something deliberately, we want to kick them out.”
The penalties are certainly severe — life bans, five-year bans, one-year bans, disqualifications, loss of prize money, fines of more than €300,000.
Top coach Butch Harmon said in May: “We would be pretty naive to think that someone hasn’t taken a growth hormone or a steroid just to allow themselves to recover from injuries or to hit more balls.”
Tiger Woods, who used to be with Harmon, reacted to those comments by saying: “He’s right — it would be naive to think that no-one in our sport has tried it.”
The US Tour’s anti-doping policy also comes into effect this week.
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