Drug-testing of golfers to begin

The European Tour's drug-testing programme comes into effect this week and officials have tried to leave no stone unturned in an effort to ensure the players are fully educated on the new policy.

"They (the players) understand this is coming," director of tour operations David Garland said in a news release on the eve of the European Open at The London Golf Club.

"Our education on this has gone well and we have not had too many adverse comments. We had to ensure we had a policy which was robust, one which can travel weekly."

Although the new policy is up and running, testing may not actually take place this week.

"Testing can start any time from July 1st," said Garland. "It may happen this week, next week or other weeks down the line."

The Tour plans to have its own doctors on hand at several tournaments to help the players understand what is, and what is not, on the list of banned substances.

"The players have all got a little 'Z card' they can use in conjunction with their doctor or pharmacist," added Garland. "Another step we have taken through the tour's chief medical officer is to have one of our own doctors on a Tuesday and Wednesday at over 20 events through the year.

"They are sports medics primarily ... fully briefed on our policy so the players have someone they can turn to on a weekly basis that is a friendly face."

The tour's list of banned substances mirrors that used by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

Although golf appears to be unaffected by performance-enhancing drugs, there have been widespread calls for the governing bodies to put testing policies in place.

The women's LPGA Tour left the other major tours lagging behind when it announced plans last November to start drug testing players in the first quarter of 2008.

Last November the US PGA Tour said its drug testing programme could start as early as this July.

Garland said it was not the European Tour's intention to immediately test every golfer.

"We are starting slowly," he said. "This is a process that is very new for the whole sport of golf.

"We will build up. This year we will do a few tournaments, next year we might do a few more and increase that. Eventually everybody will be covered over the next few years."