For the second year in a row the British Open was won today by Padraig Harrington. As of early yesterday we were watching to see if Greg Norman would become the oldest player to win it, but it slipped out of Norman’s hands today and became one in the record books but not for the oldest to win but the consecutive wins by Harrington. Harrington was the first European to win back to back for as long as you can remember (actually more than a century).

At first glance compared to the US Open with beautiful weather, the British Open was going to be a challenge with high winds and storms surrounding the play. It was.  At first glance it seemed that Harrington was not even sure if he could play based on an injured wrist as of Tuesday. (He did) But like Tiger Woods who entered the US Open with an injury, Harrington, too, played through all the obstacles and took the trophy along with all the other benefits of winning. Seems like the injured underdogs are coming out strong this year. Guess we will see what happens next (or who is injured?).

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When you think of golf do you think of steroid use as you do in baseball, football, or basketball? Do you think, “Wow my favorite player hits that ball like he is drugging it up”? Probably not, but based on the new rules that took effect on July 2, 2008, you could start to think so.

This week the first random drug test on professional golfers was done and although no one is saying who was tested, it was reported that at least one was tested before the ATT National round began. The two drugs that are being tested for are Glucocorticosteroids and Beta-2-Agonists and the players say these two drugs would not even enhance ones performance.

I guess the world of sports has really changed and based on that you will be hearing more about random drug testing on players as the tour continues. Good or bad, it has come to the surface. The thought is if they stay ahead of the official regulators and regulate themselves, they can compete in the Olympics in 2016 and hopefully never be called out by a member of Congress.

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