Vijay Singh decision due over banned substance

VIJAY Singh appears to have been found guilty of using a banned substance after Peter Dawson revealed the PGA Tour’s review of the matter had reached the appeal stage.

Nothing has been said by either Singh himself or the PGA Tour since the Fijian admitted earlier this year that he’d used deer antler spray, which contains a banned substance.

According to the R&A chief executive, however, the matter is being dealt with and a decision on whether or not Singh, a former Masters champion, will be banned is imminent.

“The R&A were very keen to get anti-doping policies into golf and the body that has done most testing in golf is the US Tour,” said Dawson. “The deer antler spray would have only been found by blood test. I’ve read medical opinion that taking that spray gives you absolutely no chance of increasing performance but, nonetheless, it’s a banned substance.

“The process that the PGA Tour is going through with Vijay Singh is taking a long time. 
I understand that it’s in the appeal stage and the time limit on that runs out in the next couple of weeks, so we should be hearing about some sort of determination quite soon. That’s unofficial and it’s a matter for them to say that. I genuinely believe that golf is a clean sport but we cannot be complacent. I hope I’m not wrong in that.

“It’s normal in anti-doping cases that the athlete is presumed innocent. Any prize money won [by Singh] goes into a pot and would be forfeit. I don’t think it’s avoidable to go through this process.”