Golf is back in the Olympics for the first time in over a century, but Rory McIlroy did little to promote the sport Tuesday.
McIlroy is one of several prominent golfers who won’t participate in the 2016 Summer Games due to concerns about the Zika virus. And while the lack of star power will hurt the sport’s popularity in Rio, McIlroy believes golf has bigger issues to solve — namely, its far-too-lax drug testing program.
“I, on average, probably get tested four to five times a year, which is very little compared to the rest of the Olympic sports,” McIlroy said in a press conference ahead of the British Open, via Golf.com. “Obviously I’ve gotten to know a lot of athletes over the years, and whether it be coming to their houses and doing blood and urine, I think drug testing in golf is still quite far behind some of the other sports.”
The world’s No. 4 golfer then issued a bold proclamation:
“I could use HGH and get away with it.”
Golf’s current program relies on urine testing rather than blood testing for fear that drawing blood could harm a golfer’s performance. But drugs like HGH often are undetectable in urine samples, meaning McIlroy isn’t exactly wrong.
The Northern Irishman’s criticism of the sport didn’t stop there, however. Here’s how McIlroy responded when asked if he’ll tune into the action in Rio, via ESPN.com:
“I’ll probably watch the Olympics, but I’m not sure golf will be one of the events I watch. … (I’ll) probably (watch) the events like track and field, swimming, diving — the stuff that matters.”
Ouch.
Thumbnail photo via Steve Flynn/USA TODAY Sports Images
