Woods says drug cheats should pay dearly

MONTREAL – Tiger Woods said Monday anyone who tests positive under golf’s new drug policy should pay a steep price.

“Given our reputation in our sport, how honorable our sport is and always has been and will continue to be, I think that the penalty has got to be somewhat significant,” Woods said in a conference call to announce the field for his Target World Challenge.

The World Golf Foundation, comprised of major golf organizations around the world, announced last week that a drug policy would begin in 2008. The PGA Tour has yet to disclose the full list of banned substances until it can share it with the players, and commissioner Tim Finchem said details such as how and when to test – as well as penalties – are still being worked out.

He said testing could begin as early as next spring.

Woods was in Montreal for the Presidents Cup, and he said Finchem was to begin meeting with players this week on the drug policy. Woods said he was curious to see what would be on the banned list, suggesting golf might not need to test for everything on the banned list for Olympic sports.

Finchem said two classes of drugs – Glucocorticosteroids and Beta-2-Agonists – were left off the golf list because they are not believed to enhance a golfer’s performance and would cause an administrative burden. Each tour could choose to add those classes to its respective lists.

“How severe are we going to be on this is the question,” Woods said. “That’s the thing that we’re looking forward to talking to Tim (about) this week, getting more detail on how far and how extensive is the list going to be.”

Woods said he was not aware of any golfer currently using performance-enhancing drugs, and while he said the penalty for anyone caught should be severe, the biggest blow would be to a player’s honor.

“I think it would be very disappointing if it did happen,” he said. “I think that person’s reputation would be obviously damaged pretty significantly.”