If you haven’t had a chance yet to head over and read Robert Garrigus’s interview in the latest Golf Digest, I highly recommend it. Not only is it an interesting look at a player that doesn’t exactly fit the mold on the PGA Tour, it contains some very controversial revelations about drug use on tour.
I can’t say that I’m the biggest fan of Mr. Bassaholic, but I do admire his willingness to call it how he sees it. He’s never been shy about discussing his past drug and alcohol issues, but even so, his claim that he and other players used drugs during Nationwide tour events is pretty surprising.
“Oh yeah, there were plenty of guys on the Nationwide Tour who smoked in the middle of the round,” Garrigus says without blanching. “We always talked about it. You could go in the Porta John and take your drags.
“I had a very high tolerance, and I didn’t know that it wasn’t helping me,” he says. “All you’re thinking is that it feels good, so it must be good for what you’re doing. It wasn’t until I quit that I realized how stupid it was. But I don’t regret any of it because it put me on the path I’m on now.”
I don’t doubt the veracity of Garrigus’s claims. They’re somewhat controversial however given the clean cut image that the PGA Tour tries to project. I’m honestly a bit surprised that Garrigus was willing to go on the record with that statement.
But it does seem foolish to pretend that drug and alcohol abuse aren’t happening on tour. Statistically speaking, it’s almost guaranteed that there are functional alcoholics and drug users teeing it up each week.
It’s also true that the PGA Tour instituted drug testing in 2008, but there are a number of questions about the effectiveness of the testing. And honestly given that the Tour is owned by the players, I personally doubt we’d ever hear about a positive test for an illicit drug unless there was a significant suspension that went along with it.
This section in the policy seems to open the window for positive narcotics tests to be handled “in house”.
In addition, for drugs of abuse (marijuana, certain narcotics, cocaine), the Commissioner will have the discretion to require treatment and rehabilitation in lieu of or in addition to other sanctions.
I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad policy. Some discretion is probably a good thing and the PGA Tour prefers to handle things in house. But at the same time a lack of transparency can give life to unfounded speculation.
Are PGA and Nationwide Tour players today getting high inside the ropes? Probably not. But According to Garrigus, it was happening not too many years ago. So then again…
