Another Journeyman Player Is The Latest Fallen Poster Boy For PGA Tour Drug Testing

2004 John Deere Classic winner Mark Hensby was given a one-year suspension for failing to provide a drug testing sample. The Aussie is ranked  1,623rd in the world and missed his cuts in his two PGA Tour appearances this year.  He teed it up 14 times last season on the Web.com Tour, making five cuts.

Hensby’s most recent Tour appearance came in October at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He shot 78 in the first round on October 25th and then DQ’ed himself, tweeting that he’d “called it a day.” The second round lines up with the date he failed to provide a sample.

I get why some athletes feel compelled to try anything to keep their careers afloat. But, outside of the messy lawsuit surrounding the Vijay Singh accusation of using Deer Antler Spray, I can’t remember a marquee name being publicly and officially outed. Well, unless Dustin Johnson’s mysterious six-month sabbatical in 2014 counts. Even if he indeed left to get clean, that is only half the time Hensby and Doug Barron received.

Maybe its because Johnson announced he was leaving before the Tour dropped the hammer. Or, that the Tour simply protects its stars.

Golf.com’s Dylan Dethier has the details  on Hensby.

The Tour’s statement on Hornsby marks a shift to the its new policy, which is designed to increase transparency. In a statement in June, Commissioner Jay Monahan released new information about the ways in which suspensions would be reported. After a violation occurs, the statement read, “the TOUR will issue a statement containing the name of the player, the fact that a violation for either a performance enhancing substance or a drug of abuse has occurred and the length of the suspension.”

Hensby is a six-time winner as a pro. He had a nice run in major championships in 2005, tying for fifth at the Masters, sharing third at the U.S. Open and tying for 15th at the British Open. He also was T-59 at the PGA Championship that year.

In 2006, Hensby was injured in a car accident. Two years later, he lost fully exempt status on then PGA Tour.

Hensby is the fourth player that the PGA Tour has publicly suspended for violating its anti-doping policy, joining Barron, Bhavik Patel and Scott Stallings.