PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods said Thursday he has been tested twice for drugs under the PGA Tour's anti-doping policy, including one time when he wasn't even playing.
The drug testing program began July 1, a week after Woods had knee surgery that kept him out of golf until late February.
Asked the first time he was tested, Woods said it was in December at the Chevron World Challenge in California, the charity event he hosts at the end of the year. It was his first public appearance at any golf tournament since knee surgery.
Woods laughed at the coincidence of his first test.
The PGA Tour reserves the right to test any member out of competition, and Woods was asked at his press conference that day in December whether the tour had ever come to his house for a drug test.
"No," he said.
Asked if he was expecting a visit during his time off, Woods replied, "Yeah, actually."
"Right after I got done telling you guys that, they were waiting for me," he said.
Woods said he also was chosen for a drug test during the CA Championship at Doral in early March. He was not tested on his return to competition two weeks earlier at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Then again, he was only there for two rounds.
SERGIO'S SWOON: No one has ever won back-to-back at The Players Championship, and Sergio Garcia made it sound Thursday as though that streak was going to continue. Ignore the 71 on his scorecard and listen to his comments.
"I'm playing so badly it makes me want to puke," Garcia said.
Now, the 29-year-old Spaniard did take a double bogey on par-3 eighth and failed to birdie the par-5 ninth from a greenside bunker. He said he didn't deserve to be 3 under, anyway.
"I was hitting the ball very poorly," he said.
But what about the three birdies on his opening four holes?
"Didn't matter," he said, adding that he was not swinging well and that he was steering the ball.
Was he at least happy with his score?
"No, no," he said. "I can't be happy with anything. Obviously, 71 is not that bad a score. The course is playing the easiest that it's going to play all week. If you play halfway decent, you're going to shoot 68, 67, 69."
Someone tried to cheer him up by saying that there's always tomorrow.
"There's always next week," Garcia said, "back at home."
A COUPLE OF LEFTIES: Phil Mickelson played golf with another Lefty on Wednesday - Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow.
Mickelson said he didn't keep score, but he figured Tebow shot somewhere around 80 at Pablo Creek.
"He's got a lot of clubhead speed, hits the ball pretty good," Mickelson said. "Not a bad player at all."
Mickelson is right-handed in everything but golf. Tebow, the Heisman Trophy winner two years ago, does everything as a southpaw, which allowed him a few swings with Mickelson's driver.
"Every time I use it now, I remember that he used my driver because there's a big mark on the top of it," Mickelson said.
It wasn't just a day of golf. They also had a contest to see who could throw a football farther.
"He beat by 2 yards," Mickelson said. "He was on his knees, though."
