Tiger Woods has not been suspended from golf for using performance-enhancing drugs or unapproved equipment, despite what one former PGA golfer said during a radio interview last week.
Dan Olsen, a 48-year-old pro who last played on the PGA Tour at the 2011 PGA Championship, told 730AM The Game in Michigan on Friday that he heard from a reliable source that Woods has been suspended for a month.
“I heard he’s on a month’s suspension … it’s kind of a strong witness,” Olsen said, per Bob Harig of ESPN.com. “It’s a credible person who is telling me this.”
Olsen said he was told Tiger is using something other than testosterone and that he could “surpass Lance Armstrong with infamy” when his career comes to a close. Ty Votaw, the executive vice president of the PGA Tour, said there is no truth to what Olsen said.
“There is no truth whatsoever to these claims,” Votaw said Monday. “We categorically deny these allegations.”
Tiger’s agent, Mark Steinberg, echoed Votaw’s sentiments in a statement, calling Olsen’s claims “unsourced, unverified and completely ridiculous.”
When asked on Monday about his remarks, Olsen seemed to backpedal.
“Everything I said on that radio interview was only my opinion and not based on any first-hand knowledge or facts,” Olsen told Michael Collins of ESPN.com. “I want to make a full retraction to everything I said for the entire radio interview. And I apologize to Tiger, Nike, Phil (Mickelson), (commissioner) Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour.
“(Now) I’ll be looked at as just some crazy f— nobody making accusations about Tiger.”
Olsen said last week that he heard Woods has also been using a special golf ball that has been given to him by Nike that he would “almost bet hasn’t been tested.”
“So he’s really playing with — I’m not gonna say a cheater ball, because he has the help of the establishment, really — but he played a ball that nobody else could play,” said Olsen.
“So that combined with his enhancement issues, like having a Canadian blood spinning doctor in his phone, you know? I mean, I think people are starting to openly call it what it is, which is gonna be a problem for him.”
First of all, any golfer who tested positive for performance-enhancing substances would be suspended for a lot longer than a month. Plus, the PGA Tour made it clear that it would be required to announce any suspension for PEDs.
While it was rumored that Dustin Johnson was suspended last year for using cocaine, that situation would be different. The PGA does not have to disclose penalties for recreational drug use.
Woods said earlier this month that he is taking time off to improve his game. Given some of the awful shots we have already seen him hit this season, you can understand why.
