Forty year old Doug Barron now has a first to go along with career highlights of a third on the PGA Tour and five second place finishes on the Nationwide—first PGA Tour player to be caught using performance enhancing drugs.
Not that anyone should care. I’ve never heard of Doug Barron, and if he has been a long-term user, it’s apparent that the drugs didn’t do him any good. For me, it’s would be as if the only guy baseball ever caught was a career minor leaguer who once spent three weeks with the Tigers and had two no-decisions. Perhaps the worst you could say is that he’s kept another no-name with marginal Big Tour talent from his card.
The Tour doesn’t release details, but it would be more instructive to find out what he was using and why. Was it a steroid with an attempt to get past an injury or build strength? A stimulant to keep him focused? A sedative to calm a shaky hand? Unless Barron talks, we’ll never know.
Does this prove that the PGA Tour—like all of other sports leagues—has a performance enhancing drug problem? I don’t think so. The Tour has been testing for two years, and the only one that’s come up positive is a 40 year old sometime Tour player. I think this guy is an aberration.
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