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Could golf be the next sport to face a series of drug scandals?

Golf is unprepared for its first big scandal, but with this testing system, it may never come


Published: December 15, 2007

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"This isn't just an issue for the golf commissioner and the other sports commissioners," Fay Vincent said. "It's a national, and an international, issue. Some day will there be implants in the retina that give us superior vision? Will the scientists and the chemists make our athletes? Sport is on the line here."

Unless, of course, it's not. Maybe ballplayers using peformance-enhancing "substances," as Selig called them in his press conference, isn't much different from actors extending their careers with surgical nips and tucks and jazz singers finding inspiration with dope.

Donald Trump, the budding golf impresario who would own a baseball team in a New York minute if he thought he could make money at it, said a while back, "Do you care if these ballplayers are using steroids? I do not. I just want to see them hit home runs." Trump has a knack for saying what others are thinking, which may explain why baseball set attendance records in 2007, steroid scandal and all.

For golf fans, the question is really the same. It's the answer that makes all the difference. When a professional golfer clocks a drive 360 yards and straight, it's an awesome sight, right? But would you find it less awesome if you suspected the golfer was juiced?