PGA Tour strengthens drug-testing policy

The PGA Tour announced it is strengthening its drug-testing policy, to include blood, as well as urine-testing.

The policy is effective from the start of the PGA Tour’s 2017-18 season, in October. The tour plans to increase the substances it bans, conforming to the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA). The PGA is adding anti-inflammatory and asthma medications, and pseudoephedrine above a certain level, to its banned substances.

This is the first time the PGA has implemented blood testing for drugs on the tour, allowing tour officials to detect the players use of human growth hormone (HGH). The PGA Tour bans HGH, but the urine tests currently conducted cannot detect the use of the substance.

The PGA plans to continue urine testing in conjunction with blood testing. According to Andy Levinson, the PGA’s Senior Vice President of Tournament Administration, responsible for enforcing the tour’s anti-doping policy, urine testing is the most efficient method of detecting 98% of the banned substances.

To increase transparency, the new policy requires the tour to identify players suspended for drug abuse. Under current policy, the tour announces suspensions for players who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Players testing positive for recreational drugs are privately disciplined for ‘conduct unbecoming a professional’.

Jay Monahan, PGA’s Tour Commissioner, said he believes the new drug-testing policy protects the health of the tour’s players and upholds the tour’s reputation of not condoning drug use.