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…

Robert Garrigus was deadly with his wedges on Friday, shooting a 10-under 63 to take the lead at Kapalua.  I guess he gets a lot of practice using his wedges given that he led the PGA Tour in driving distance last year.  This eagle on 16 was his 4th wedge shot of the day that ended up inside of 2.5 feet.

As most people expected, Jamie Sadlowski handily outdrove Bubba Watson, Robert Garrigus and Dustin Johnson during their competition today on the 18th hole.

The format was interesting.  They played a two round elimination event.  Each player got 3 shots and the ball had to be in play to count.  They moved the players up to to the Women’s tees, bringing the overall length of the hole down to 455 yards from the normal 663 yards.

This had the interesting effect of bringing the hazard into play and caused the players to land the ball in a much flatter area of the course which led to significantly less roll than I and others had been expecting.  Additionally the wind was in their face, which is about 180 degrees opposite from the usual playing conditions.

Still, Sadlowski unleashed the longest drive of the day during the final round, poking one out 407 yards.  Watson struggled a bit in the finals and was “only” able to hit one 352 yards.  The first round was actually closer with Sadlowski hitting it 398, with Watson (370), Garrigus (365), and Dustin Johnson (352) not as far behind him as some might have been expecting.

It was pretty obvious from the outset however that the PGA guys knew they had no real chance of winning.  It truly was the Jamie Sadlowski show.  At one point in the finals while Bubba was hitting his shots, Frank Nobilo actually asked Sadlowski if he thought he could beat Bubba with his 3 wood.  Ouch.  And even though Sadlowski said no, I think he really mean “duh”.

After he won, Sadlowski demonstrated his “amphibiousness” (to quote Boo Weekly), by hitting Watson’s back-up driver left-handed.  He didn’t do too badly, pegging a spectator about 280 yards out from the tee.

I’ve heard now and then that Sadlowski may make a run at the PGA Tour.  He’s supposedly a plus handicap golfer.  All I can say is that it would be a lot of fun to see him playing in PGA events.  400 yard drives and 215 yard 7-irons would be one heck of a draw for fans and could possibly give golf a much needed boost.

Golfweek

[Image Flickr/rbglasson]

It’s often a hotly debated topic on internet golf boards:  How do the longest driving PGA Tour Pros compare to the long drive competition specialists?

This week we may get an answer (or at least more fodder for the internet forums).  At the 2011 season opener in Kapalua, Jamie Sadlowski, the current king of the long drive will square up against the 3-longest drivers on the PGA Tour, Robert Garrigus, Dustin Johnson, and Bubba Watson, on the 18th hole of the Plantation Course.

The 18th hole is a great choice in many respects.  First, it plays downhill and downwind.  There’s a bit right to left slope that causes a baby draw down the right hand side to produce a drive that runs and runs and runs.

Because of all this, the 18th hole will produce some huge numbers for us all to ooh and aah about.  I’m guessing that these guys just might have a chance to surpass my 432 yard drive there a few months ago [that was sarcasm].  In fact, I suspect that we may see a drive of 500 yards or more.

The other side effect of all this is that the competition will be much closer than it should be.  Let’s face it, while the PGA guys hit the ball a long way, they don’t hit 400+ yard drives like Sadlowski does.  On a long drive grid, he could probably outdrive them with his 3-wood.  But on the 18th, they may actually be able to hit the slope at the right angle and sneak one out past him.

There are still plenty of blanks to be filled in about the competition.  Will it be 1 swing each, or 6 like in a long drive competition?  Do drives that run though the fairway down into the rough near the hazard still count?  Will they be allowed to use extra-long drivers or will they be limited to 48″?

And finally, will this competition actually make it onto the TV broadcast?  I think that they’ll show at least a few minutes of it while somebody is waiting 10 minutes to get a ruling on how to properly take a drop from a water hazard, but who knows?  I certainly have my fingers crossed.

[Update: The Golf Channel will be airing highlights from the Long Drive Competition and the Celebrity Pro/Am tonight during the Fedex Cup Kickoff (Wednesday) between 9-11pm Eastern.  Click here to see my synopsis of the results.]

Honolulu Star-Advisor

[Image Flickr/zzazazz]

Here’s Tony Kornheiser’s response to Robert Garrigus’s remarks after his win last week.  Couple of thoughts:  Yes, Garrigus probably read too much into Kornheiser’s comments after the loss to Westwood.  But Kornheiser also needs to ratchet down the sensitivity level a tiny bit (not exactly a new criticism).

Michael Wilbon has it right.  Garrigus obviously wasn’t being mean spirited.  It was more of a good natured ribbing from Garrigus than anything truly malicious.

Either way, I’d like to see a golf match take place.  40 strokes from the women’s tees may be a little excessive (or maybe not – I’m guessing that Kornheiser isn’t exactly a scratch golfer), but it would be fun to see them get out on the course and settle this with a wager going to the of their choice.

I don’t know how I missed this one.  After winning the Children’s Miracle Network Classic on Sunday, Robert “Bassaholic” Garrigus, basically gave Tony Kornheiser a big middle finger (or at least as close as they get in golf).

During his post round interview he said “”This win is for Tony Kornheiser who said I’d never win on the PGA Tour”.  Ooh Burn.  Personally I kind of like seeing somebody basically say “screw you” to his detractors after a big win.  People complain that golf is too boring and that players need to show some personality.  Garrigus certainly has personality.

It would have been cool if he had just used Lance Armstrong’s description of some of Kornheisser’s commentary regarding cyclists:  “Disgusting, ignorant, foolish. What a complete f-ing idiot.”

WaggleRoom