John Daly calls PGA Tour's drug testing program a 'joke'
John Daly has a tee time at the Valspar Championship on Friday. He also expects to have a pee time.
On his SiriusXM radio show, "Hit It Hard with John Daly," on Tuesday, Daly told host Patrick Meagher that he does not believe the Tour's drug-testing program is random and that he is certain he'll be tested after his second round is finished.
"I'm gonna play at 1:50 on Friday so they're [going to] get me about 6:52, 7 o'clock," Daly said, according to ESPN.com.
Daly continued, "Oh yeah, this'll be the fifth or sixth year in a row I'm going to get drug tested [at this event]. It's the biggest bulls***. I'm sorry. I'm gonna say it; fine me. I don't care what you do, fix 'em right now, fine me, but I'm tired of it. It's not random; it's big a joke. This whole drug testing is a joke."
He suggested other players know when they're going to be tested as well.
"I know when I'm getting drug tested," said Daly, who recorded his first PGA Tour top-10 finish in almost three years at last week's Puerto Rico Open. "That's sad. They all know when we're getting drug tested. And for you dopers and all that s*** on the PGA Tour, you know you're getting drug tested, you got it made! You got it made! And I'm tired of it."
The two-time major winner called out PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and chief of operations Andy Pazder to "fix" the issue.
The Tour responded on Wednesday afternoon saying, in a statement, that its testing is “both random and selective,” and that, “contrary to his assertions, John Daly has never been targeted for testing and his claim that players know when they will be tested is simply not true.”
The Tour's drug-testing program has been the subject of scrutiny and legal action.
Vijay Singh is currently suing the PGA Tour over their handling of his case when he admitted in a January 2013 Sports Illustrated piece that he took deer-antler spray, which contains a substance banned under the Tour's program. Singh's admission was tantamount to a positive test. However, before the PGA Tour levied a six-month suspension on Singh, it consulted with the World Anti-Doping Agency, which told the Tour it only considered the direct injection of the banned ingredient IGF-1 into the blood to warrant a suspension.
Dustin Johnson took a six-month "leave of absence" from the PGA Tour which ended with his return at the Farmers Insurance Open. Johnson admitted to "personal challenges" but did not care to detail them specifically. Golf.com reported last summer that Johnson had been suspended by the Tour after testing positive for cocaine. The Tour denied that charge. However, commissioner Finchem can choose not to suspend any player who tests positive for a banned substance under the Tour's anti-doping program and in cases of "drugs of abuse" can require rehabilitation in lieu of a suspension or fine. Last week at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, Finchem contended fans aren't interested in increased transparency related to fines and suspensions.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has also been recently critical of the Tour's program, which only collects urine samples from players. The Tour is unable to test for banned substances like human growth hormone (HGH) without taking a blood sample. A Tour official responded to the charges, saying taking the small sample from players could inhibit their on-course performance.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
