Tour player gets three-month drug suspension

The PGA has suspended Brad Fritsch for three months after he reporting the use of a banned substance, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)​.

When the Canadian journeyman failed to advance through the second stage of Web.com tour Q-School, he contacted a friend who operates a weight loss program. 40-year-old Fritsch was the heaviest he'd ever been and was hoping to keep up with his kids, who were "getting really fast."

He therefore began a low-calorie program. Fritsch began the program, which consisted of highly disciplined eating and several supplements including a spray called "BioSom”, which caused a friend of his to pause for thought.

"Hey, it's not that spray that got Vijay in trouble, right?" the friend texted Fritsch.

"It felt like my heart sank into my stomach," wrote Fritsch in a Facebook post. He had "never considered" that he would one day violate the policy. "The only thing I would ever test positive for is excessive Chik Fil A," he wrote.

Fritsch self-reported the potential violation to a Tour official and found that the spray did in fact contain a substance, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)​, that is on the Tour's banned list.

"How could I sit there all those times and say 'if it happens, it's the truth, and if it's the truth, get it out there,' and when it was my turn, just lie about it?" Fritsch wrote. "I couldn't. It's not who I am. I believe in the program and if I'm to be suspended, then so be it."

So Fritsch has taken it on the chin, and his honesty in self-reporting his potential violation has to be admired.

Related:

V.J Singh's battle with PGA set to go to court