Getty Image
Golf is one of the last sports where the use of performance-enhancing drugs is going to give you a major edge over the rest of the competition, but one former PGA Tour golfer has accused Tiger Woods of harnessing that approach at some point in his career.
One of the reasons Tiger Woods took the golf world by storm after bursting onto the scene second half of the 1990s was the training regimen that gave him the strength, flexibility, and endurance that helped him become one of the most dominant people to ever step foot on the course.
He obviously wasn’t the first golfer to use diet and exercise to his advantage, but his decision to approach the game like a true professional athlete was a fairly revolutionary development that changed the trajectory of the sport thanks to the many other golfers who realized they needed to do the same if they wanted to come close to reaching his level of play.
However, former PGA Tour player Mark Lye seems to think Tiger got some illicit help on his way to cementing himself as a legend.
Lye made his PGA Tour debut in 1977 and only won a single tournament on the circuit before pivoting to a career in broadcasting after retiring in 1995 (a year before Woods competed in his first pro tournament as an amateur).
During a recent episode of Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich, Lye fielded a question concerning rumors Woods harnessed steroids at some point in his career and asserted it’s a poorly kept secret, saying:
“People in Tiger’s corner [say] ‘You better shut up about it.’ Nobody’s ever gone out like that.
Nobody’s ever said that like I’m saying it right now. There’s just no doubt. And I would say about 80 or 90% of the people out there know something ain’t right.”
Famed sportswriter Michael Bamberger previously examined evidence that could suggest Woods used PEDs at some point, which is entirely circumstantial.
As he noted, the PGA Tour didn’t start testing for steroids in 2008 (more than a decade after Tiger turned pro), and while his physique certainly changed during that span, it’s a huge stretch to suggest he couldn’t have undergone that transformation without some chemical assistance.
As a result, it’s a bit hard to buy into Lye’s claim given the total lack of proof, but there will probably always be some skeptics.