Greg Norman believes pro golf’s drug-testing procedures are shall we say subpar, disgraceful in fact, and that any golfer on the tour who takes PEDs is cheating.
He also insists that random blood testing for steroids and other drugs needs to be implemented in the sport right away to make sure golf is clean. In a sense, the Shark is out for blood.
In an interview in his native Australia, Norman specifically referenced the Vijay Singh incident. Singh admitted in January that he used deer antler spray , a substance banned by the Professional Golfers Association and other sports leagues. “You only have to look at what happened to Vijay Singh just recently to know the drugs issue is there,” Norman observed.
In the Shark’s opinion, the tour needs to implement blood testing pronto to find out how many golfers are juicing. “How deep it is (the problem), I have no idea because we only do urine analysis instead of blood testing. If you really want to be serious about it and find about what’s really going on, we need to do blood testing. I think it’s disgraceful, to tell you the truth. The golf associations have to get together and step it up.”
Added Norman: “It’s a pinprick for a player and you find out what’s going on. If you’re the head of golf or any sport, if you’re the commissioner for a sport, it’s your responsibility to make sure your sport is clean … That should be your No. 1 priority.”
If you’re an athlete who takes steroids or other performance enhancing drugs, be advised that you will not be on Greg Norman’s Christmas card list: “Any sportsman or sportswoman who uses an outside agency to improve their skills is cheating, sickens me. They’re putting a black eye on their sport. If a sport gets itself clean, the corporate dollars will always be there because people will know it’s a sport they can trust. The rest will take care of itself.”
Earlier this month, Greg Norman wasn’t shy either about expressing a strong opinion about the Tiger Woods dropped-ball controversy at the Masters. On Twitter, Norman insisted that Woods should have withdrawn from the tournament for the integrity of the game.
It is all about the player and the integrity of the game. Woods violated the rules as he played #1 carries a greater burden. WD for the game
— Greg Norman (@SharkGregNorman) April 13, 2013
In his heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, Greg Norman was the number one pro golfer in the world and made a fortune in the sport as well as in various other entrepreneurial ventures. He won 89 tournaments but only two Majors, along the way developing a reputation for underperforming at crunch time.
Do you think professional golf has a drug problem?
