PGA Tour suspends Fritsch for doping violation

MIAMI: Canadian golfer Brad Fritsch has been suspended for three months for a doping violation that he reported himself to the US PGA Tour, the tour said Monday.

“The PGA TOUR announced today that Brad Fritsch has violated the PGA Tour AntiDoping Policy’s ban on the use of performance-enhancing substances and has been suspended for three months,” the tour said in a statement from its Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, headquarters.

“Mr. Fritsch self-reported this information after discovering that an ingredient in a supplement that he was taking was on the prohibited list.

“He has acknowledged his inadvertent error and accepted his suspension. He will be eligible to return on February 28, 2018.”

Fritsch said in a Facebook post that the banned substance, dehydroepiandrosterone, was in a weight-loss supplement he was taking.

“I’m just so upset with myself that I didn’t think to question what was in the supplements. But I never did,” Fritsch said in the post. “And in the program rules, it stipulates that a self-report is the same as a positive test. I did know this when I sent the text to (PGA vice-president) Andy Levinson.

“I believe in the program. I’m a proud member of the PGA Tour and I don’t take that lightly.”

Fritsch, 40, played in 18 tour events in 2017 with his best finish a tie for 29th at the Sanderson Farms Championship. – AFP