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Vijay Singh to sue PGA tour

A news release from his lawyer said: "Singh seeks damages for the PGA Tour's reckless administration and implementation of its Anti-Doping Program. After exposing Singh, one of the PGA Tour's most respected and hardest working golfers
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http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/9254013/vijay-singh-sues-pga-tour-handling-deer-antler-spray-case

Link wasn't working.

VT, from everything I've heard over the years, Vijay is well respected by his fellow tour players, but he's always had a prickly relationship with the golf media. And I've always kinda liked him. He probably does practice more than anyone else in the game and got to where he is from hard work and extremely humble beginnings, unlike most tour pros. He also says what's on his mind and isn't politically correct, which other players tend to like - let Vijay say the unpopular thing. But yeah, the lawsuit is weak sauce. The right result happened with the whole deer antler spray incident, and he should have just let it die.

That said, the PGA's drug policy is a joke, as Greg Norman opined last week. My high blood pressure medication is a banned substance, as I think marijuana is, but because they don't do blood testing, HGH isn't tested for. So sure, bulk up and hit it further, but be careful with your pain relief and blood pressure medication because it can get you banned.
 
Seriously. It's hard to think of many less respected players on tour... How many major winners have been banned from a professional golf tour for cheating?
 
He should feel fortunate he got off. And, he didn't miss any golf. Silly.
 
What I had heard is he is not liked or well respected on tour. Never has been.
 
This is hilarious. The PGA Tour went out of their way to find a loophole so they wouldn't have to suspend Vijay for admitting he violated the doping policy. By doing so, the PGA Tour opened themselves up for a lawsuit from Vijay.
 
Fuck, if his name was "Tiger," they would've made deer antler spray mandatory for all players.

:couch:
 
LK, what do you think of the current PGA Tour policy regarding PEDs? To me, it's nuts that they don't test for things like HGH, but they ban quality of life things like blood pressure medication. And who cares if some golfer smokes the occasional joint. Ain't no way pot can help your performance as a golfer - it's only performance enhancing if you're a bass guitarist.
 
Liquid Karma said:
This is hilarious. The PGA Tour went out of their way to find a loophole so they wouldn't have to suspend Vijay for admitting he violated the doping policy. By doing so, the PGA Tour opened themselves up for a lawsuit from Vijay.
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I mean, they didn't really have to go out of their way. It was on the banned list so they suspended him, then it was removed from the banned list so they cancelled the suspension.

The PGA Tour does the bare minimum as far as drug testing goes, but following the WADA banned substance list is pretty basic. That's kind of the point of having a World Authority on Anti-Doping - to provide guidelines for multiple sports and their governing bodies.

I think Vijay is just bitter that others are doping without getting caught while his name got tagged with cheating again, so he wants to blow the whole thing up. Which I don't really fault him for, but he's still a douche.
 
I watched Vijay make a rules official come measure Phil Mickleson's spikes in the fairway on the 13th hole at Augusta. This was probably 3 or 4 years ago.

Outside of Ernie Els, I don't think you'll find too many of the well-known guys campaigning for him.
 
This is not germane but one thing I've noticed is he is the only guy who is too cool to take his hat off at the completion of a round. Another reason not to like him.
 
cville deac said:
LK, what do you think of the current PGA Tour policy regarding PEDs? To me, it's nuts that they don't test for things like HGH, but they ban quality of life things like blood pressure medication. And who cares if some golfer smokes the occasional joint. Ain't no way pot can help your performance as a golfer - it's only performance enhancing if you're a bass guitarist.
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I'm not LK, but not sure why blood pressure medication keeps getting trotted out. Tons of sports, including the Olympics, banned beta blockers. If you have a medical condition you simply have to have your condition reviewed by an independent doctor so you're not just getting pills from a buddy doctor.

Anything drug that calms your nerves can be advantageous in high pressure sports. The PGA Tour's policies are fairly typical (and mundane) for a sport that generally doesn't believe steroids/strength/stamina drugs are prevalent or all that helpful.

Cue the "golf is not a sport" arguments...
 
vtwhat etc said:
I watched Vijay make a rules official come measure Phil Mickleson's spikes in the fairway on the 13th hole at Augusta. This was probably 3 or 4 years ago.

Outside of Ernie Els, I don't think you'll find too many of the well-known guys campaigning for him.
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I think it was longer ago than that. But a lot of other pros were happy he did that. No one would say anything in public back then, but players didn't like being in the group behind Phil because he did wear long spikes and would leave some big spike marks.

Speaking of spikes, is everyone now wearing soft spikes? I know Tiger changed to them a while back. Can players still use metal? And if so, who does? And why doesn't the Tour make players use soft spikes?
 
The PGA Tour policy is not just about PED's. The reason substances like marijuana are banned is for image reasons. The PGA Tour is a brand and they are extremely image conscious, and they want to manage that brand.

DCDeac summed up the blood pressure issue quite well, however it's not always as simple as getting a medical use exemption for quality of life type drugs. The Tour still dropped the hammer on Doug Barron (needed to show they were serious about the new drug policy) a few years ago for taking a testosterone supplement that was medically prescribed. Obviously getting testosterone treatments is different than taking HCTZ (yes, this is on the banned substance list...most diuretics are) or Beta Blockers for your blood pressure.

The USGA decided to start following the anti-doping policy for amateur events this year as well. Should be entertaining to see how many players in the field at the US mid Am have to get medical use exemptions for their blood pressure meds. I actually take two substances that violate the policy and already got a letter from my doctor since I plan to play a couple qualifiers this year. There are going to be players that qualify, get tested at the main event, and don't have their exemption letter yet. In those cases the USGA is going to DQ them from the event and call the next alternate on the list. There simply won't be enough time to get the letter and prove your innocence.
 
DCDeac said:
I'm not LK, but not sure why blood pressure medication keeps getting trotted out. Tons of sports, including the Olympics, banned beta blockers. If you have a medical condition you simply have to have your condition reviewed by an independent doctor so you're not just getting pills from a buddy doctor.

Anything drug that calms your nerves can be advantageous in high pressure sports. The PGA Tour's policies are fairly typical (and mundane) for a sport that generally doesn't believe steroids/strength/stamina drugs are prevalent or all that helpful.

Cue the "golf is not a sport" arguments...
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I guess the thing is that when you're a young athlete, and you're playing football, basketball... you're extremely unlikely to have high blood pressure, and you're gonna retire before you get high blood pressure. But in golf, folks play into their 40s and 50s. Hell, half the senior tour probably has high blood pressure. I developed high blood pressure in my mid-40s. If I were a pro golfer (and I'm far from it), I'd certainly want to be able to continue to take medication to keep my blood pressure down. Aside from that, it just seems odd to me that they do check for quality of life things and don't test for HGH, and if HGH helps you hit a baseball farther, I would think the same would apply to golf.
 
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