Tiger Woods: We are drug-tested regularly

Belek: Tiger Woods revealed here on Wednesday that he has been drug-tested five times this season as Vijay Singh’s lawyers accused the PGA Tour of showing preferential treatment in their anti-doping controls and of covering up offences.

The world No 1 was speaking on the eve of the Turkish Airlines Open, in which he is being paid $2.8 million (Dh10.2 million) to appear.

Woods claimed to know nothing about the incendiary accusations made by the Fijian’s legal team in a New York court recently and outlined how regularly he has been called in by the testers.

As he has played in 16 PGA Tour events this season, he says it has happened at almost one in three tournaments. “I know we get regularly tested, randomly, throughout the year,” Woods said. “I have been tested, like, five times this year. That’s usually about the number for most guys.”

The US officials will be relieved to hear his comments after Peter Ginsberg threatened in a lawsuit to expose what Singh clearly believes is golf’s dirty secret.

The three-time major-winner is suing the Tour for the manner in which it handled his admission of using deer-antler spray last January, which contains IGF-1, a banned substance. The Tour is still trying to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Those who doubt golf’s anti-doping policy were given further ammunition yesterday by Justin Rose. “I have never been tested on the European Tour,” Rose said. “I have been on the PGA Tour, many times. I would say four times a year would be average.”

David Garland, the European Tour’s director of operations, declined to comment on how many of his Tour’s events have drug tests, but said there would not be any here this week. He made the point that when the Tour does test, it targets 10 to 15 per cent of the field and also liaises with the PGA Tour concerning who they have tested.

Neither Tour uses blood tests.

Meanwhile, with Woods paired with Rose and Henrik Stenson in Thursday’s marquee threeball it promises to be one to savour; not just because of Woods’s usual pulling power but due to the likes of Stenson and Rose intensifying the fight for the coveted Harry Vardon Trophy.

The former Order of Merit will be settled next week at the Race to Dubai finale in the United Arab Emirates, with Stenson holding a near 150,000-point lead over Graeme McDowell. With McDowell absent this week, Ian Poulter and Rose could assume top spot with nigh on 850,000 points up for grabs in the inaugural staging of this $7 million event.

On Thursday, a three-hour thunderstorm delay means that Woods and current Stenson were not set to manage to complete their opening rounds in the Turkish Open, which got underway on Thursday.

The storm struck the Colin Montgomerie-designed Maxx Royal course in southern Turkey before any players in the elite 78-player field had managed to tee off.

Tournament Director Miguel Vidadoar said: “There was first a one-hour delay and that was extended to two hours and then when it was safe to inspect the course a number of the greens had flooded.

“That forced us into a further hour’s delay. However with an earlier start tomorrow (Friday) I’m confident we can get back to normal and proceed with all four rounds.”