LPGA Announces Drugs It Will Test For; HGH Not On List

Kudos to the LPGA Tour for becoming the first professional golf tour to institute drug testing. It's naive to think that the performance-enhancing drugs used in other sports aren't being used in golf - or at least, that they won't soon be showing up in golf if they aren't already here.

The LPGA has taken a proactive step by introducing a drug-testing policy, which goes into effect in 2008. Yesterday the tour released the list of banned substances it will be testing for, a list that includes 33 anabolic steroids, 29 stimulants and 20 beta-blockers.

But as much as I applaud the LPGA for getting in front of this issue (and way in front of the PGA Tour), it does seem strange the tour is choosing not to test for Human Growth Hormone, or HGH.

HGH is fast becoming the performance-enhancing drug of choice for athletes around the world, in team sports, in individual sports. It appears to increase strength, quickness, speed, recovery time from injuries; its use appears to be on the rise and, in some sports, pervasive.

Why wouldn't the LPGA test for that? A tour official explained that "we don't have any evidence that HGH is a problem in women's professional golf."

Um ... what? Does that mean the tour does have evidence that the other drugs it will be testing for are a problem in women's golf?

I don't think so. Yet the testing that will start in 2008 won't screen for HGH. Odd.