The European Tour’s new anti-doping programme to start with European Open
The London Golf Club is set to become the first golf course to hold drugs testing under the European tour’s new anti-doping programme when it hosts the European Open, which starts on 3 July.
The European Tour are eager to start the testing as soon as possible, and that means at the European Open, if not it will be the Scottish Open, the following week.
Apparently part of the motivation behind all the main governing bodies wishing to comply with a worldwide campaign is due in part to its aspirations for golf to be included as an olympic sport, possibly as early as 2016. Without a testing system in place, the International Olympic Committee would not consider the move.
Sports such as athletics and cycling, where stamina or physical strength is a main driving force, there is a history of drugs testing. But golf has only recently been brought into disrepute with suggestions and allegations of golfers taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Last year Gary Player brought the subject to athe attention of the media when he claimed two players had told him they were taking drugs. Within weeks, the European tour and the PGA announced their commitment to begin in the 2008 season.
The European Open will be the start of a concerted anti-doping programme, with North America’s PGA Tour also introducing them in July.
The PGA Championship in August will be the first of golf’s major tournaments to hold testing and it will also be introduced at the Ryder Cup in September.
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