Skip to footer

Vijay Singh withdraws from Phoenix Open after admitting antler spray use

Singh said in a statement on Wednesday that while he used deer-antler spray he was not aware he may have been violating the U.S. PGA Tour's anti-doping policy.

|
Gregory Bull/AP
Vijay Singh, of Fiji, looks on before teeing off on the 10th hole of the north course at the Torrey Pines Golf Course during the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament Thursday, Jan. 24, in San Diego.
  • By John Nicholson Associated Press

| SCOTTSDALE, Arizona

Vijay Singh withdrew from the Phoenix Open on Thursday, a day after saying he used deer-antler spray and was "absolutely shocked" that it may contain a banned substance.

Singh cited a back injury in pulling out before the first round.

The 49-year-old Fijian paid one of the owners of Sports With Alternatives To Steroids $9,000 last November for the spray, hologram chips and other products, said Sports Illustrated.

The magazine also reported Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis sought help from SWATS in his recovery from an arm injury. The company says its deer-antler substance contains a banned performance-enhancer connected to human growth hormone.

Singh said in a statement on Wednesday that while he used deer-antler spray he was not aware he may have been violating the U.S. PGA Tour's anti-doping policy.

"I am absolutely shocked that deer-antler spray may contain a banned substance and am angry that I have put myself in this position," he said.

He was cooperating with a tour investigation.

Singh, a three-time major champion, won the last of his 56 titles in 2008. Early in his career, he was suspended from the Asian Tour for two years for altering his scorecard during a tournament in Indonesia.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Vijay Singh withdraws from Phoenix Open after admitting antler spray use
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0131/Vijay-Singh-withdraws-from-Phoenix-Open-after-admitting-antler-spray-use
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe