Cancer screening introduced

WITH The BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth basking in glorious sunshine so far this week, the European Tour’s tournament committee has given the green light to introduce a new service for skin cancer screening.

Specialist nurses will attend selected tournaments during the season at which players can undergo tests.

Last season’s Order of Merit winner Padraig Harrington recently had surgery to remove a skin cancer spot on his forehead.

“I had about a square inch of skin taken out with some roots and all that sort of stuff,” he said. “I’m told it’s like the third form of skin cancer, not a melanoma.’’

Meanwhile, the Tour are in talks with other governing bodies over a uniform drugs policy which could come into effect next season.

David Garland, director of operations for the European Tour, said: “There will be testing at some stage, but we don’t know when yet because there is an ongoing debate about what list of banned substances should be used.”