Tiger Woods, watched girlfriend Lindsey Vonn compete in the alpine skiing world championships the day after saying he was stepping away from golf competition. (Marco Trovati / AP)
Tiger Woods is not serving a suspension from the PGA Tour for failing a drug test, his agent and a Tour official emphatically stated Monday.
“These claims are absolutely, unequivocally and completely false,” Mark Steinberg said in a statement (via ESPN). “They are unsourced, unverified and completely ridiculous.”
The allegations were made by golf pro Dan Olsen on 730 The Game radio in East Lansing, Mich., Friday. “I’ve heard that he’s suspended,” Olsen said on “Mad Dog in the Morning.” “I heard he’s on a month’s suspension. And it’s not, it’s kind of a strong witness. It’s a credible person that’s telling me this. Well, it’s not testosterone, but it’s something else.”
Woods, who has struggled mentally and physically with his game, announced Feb. 11 that he was taking an indefinite leave from golf, saying his game “needs a lot of work.” Among his many injuries over the last few years, he underwent a microdiscectomy last spring. He was withdrawn from play three times because of an injury and no longer ranks among the world’s top 70 players.
On Monday, Olsen, a 48-year-old who last played on the Tour in 2011, was walking back his allegations.
“Everything I said on that radio interview was only my opinion and not based on any first-hand knowledge or facts,” Olsen told ESPN. “I want to make a full retraction to everything I said for the entire radio interview. And I apologize to Tiger, Nike, Phil [Mickelson], [Commissioner] Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour.”
Olsen had questioned the Nike ball with which Woods plays, too, saying, “I would almost bet hadn’t been tested. … So he’s really playing with — I’m not gonna say a cheater ball, because he has the help of the establishment, really — but he played a ball that nobody else could play. … So that combined with his enhancement issues, like having a Canadian blood spinning doctor in his phone, you know? I mean, I think people are starting to openly call it what it is, which is gonna be a problem for him.”
Ty Votaw, executive vice president of the PGA Tour, shot down the report Monday, too, and the Tour, according to ESPN, says it is required to announce a suspension.
“There is no truth whatsoever to these claims,” he told USA Today. “We categorically deny these allegations.”
After spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, Cindy began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead. She also is the social media editor for Sports.
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