Sports briefs

Golfer suspended for performance drug

SHANGHAI — Doug Barron, a 40-year-old journeyman who lost his tour card three years ago, became the first player to be suspended by the PGA Tour for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

Barron has been suspended for one year. He played eight full seasons on the tour, with his best finish a tie for third at the Byron Nelson Championship in 2006.

"I would like to apologize for any negative perception of the tour or its players resulting from my suspension," Barron said in a statement released by the PGA Tour on Monday. "I want my fellow tour members and the fans to know that I did not intend to gain an unfair competitive advantage or enhance my performance while on tour."

Barron could not be reached for comment, and his agent did not immediately respond to a voicemail.

The news was greeted with shock at the HSBC Champions, a World Golf Championship event in China that has attracted several of the world's best players.

"I'm surprised to hear that," British Open champion Stewart Cink said. "I know him a little bit. He's taken medicine in the past for a lot of different reasons. I would think that has a lot to do with it."

Barron played a full Nationwide schedule last year, making only five cuts in 17 starts to earn $33,446. He played four times on the Nationwide Tour this year, and his lone PGA Tour start came at the St. Jude Classic, where he missed the cut.

The tour said it would have no further comment.

Under its doping policy, the tour announces a suspension but does not disclose what substance a player used.

Eisenhower inducted to World Golf HOF

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Lanny Wadkins, Jose Maria Olazabal and Christy O'Connor Sr. were inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday night, a reward for hundreds of international victories and stellar performances under intense pressure in the Ryder Cup.

Joining them posthumously was President Dwight Eisenhower, whose love of golf has been credited for a surge in interest in the game while he was in office from 1952-1960. The number of people who took up golf in those years more than doubled, and golf historians credit a good portion of that surge to Eisenhower's visibility in playing the sport.

Eisenhower was said to have played golf more than 800 times during his eight years as president, and was a member of the Augusta National Golf Club. He became the first U.S. President to be a member of the Hall of Fame.

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