Fleetwood backs blood tests
BLOOD testing is being introduced at this Open for the first time to ensure drug cheats have nowhere to hide. Players have previously only been subjected to urine tests but a condition of golf’s inclusion in the Olympics was that the sport would need to meet testing standards deployed across other WADA-regulated sports.
About 20 per cent of the field will be subject to testing which has already been introduced on the European Tour.
“I’ve done it a few times,” said Europe’s No 1 Tommy Fleetwood.
“I’m pretty confident it’s a clean sport but we’re an Olympic sport these days so rules apply to everybody. If everybody is doing the right things, then it should not be a problem.”
The testing will be carried out by European Tour officials and be random rather than targeted. “It is already up and running and it will operate throughout the championship,” said an R&A spokesman.
It is overdue as as Rory McIlroy concerned.
When it was brought in on the PGA Tour last year McIlroy was quick to far is praise the upgrade. “If golf wants to be a sport in the Olympics, it needs to get on board with everything that all the other sports do as well,” he said.
Last year Australian Mark Hensby was suspended for a year by the PGA Tour for failing to supply a sample. And South African Etienne Bond was suspended by the Sunshine Tour in his home country for testing positive for a beta blocker.