U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka plays a shot on a practice round during previews ahead of the 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Club on Jul. 16, 2018. Koepka had his driver tested the next day. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Golfers at this year’s British Open are being subjected to increased scrutiny. A randomly selected group of 30 players arriving at Carnoustie, Scotland this week had their drivers tested to ensure they were within regulations, and roughly 20 percent of the tournament field will also be subjected to random blood tests.
According to the Golf Channel, 30 players received notification from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, one of the governing bodies of the sport, to bring their clubs in for testing on Tuesday. Among that group were Keegan Bradley, Brendan Steele, and reigning U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka. Those three confirmed to the Golf Channel that their drivers had passed the coefficient of restitution test, which measures how elastic a club is. This was the first time the R&A has instituted random club testing.
“We take our governance role very seriously, not just on the rules of golf and amateur status, but also equipment standards,” said Martin Slumbers, R&A chief executive, in an article by the LA Times. “We felt it was an appropriate next step to more actively seek to test players’ drivers straight out of the bag.”
Now that Golf has returned to the Olympics, golfers will also be subjected to similar drug testing that is administered to other Olympic athletes. Previously, players could have their urine tested, but blood testing was brought in starting from the beginning of the 2017/18 PGA Tour, according to the Golf Channel. The PGA Tour banned list of substances was also updated to include everything banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and suspensions of players for failed tests will no longer remain confidential.
