Dan Olsen, a journeyman pro who spent one season on the PGA Tour, has retracted a statement he made about Tiger Woods being suspended for a month by the PGA Tour because of drug use.
The 48-year-old Olsen, who has made money recently by giving golf lessons and caddying, made his comments about Woods in a radio interview on 730AM The Game in Lansing, Mich.
“I heard he’s on a month’s suspension,” said Olsen, who last played on the PGA Tour in the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. ” … It’s kind of a strong witness. It’s a credible person who is telling me this.”
Olsen said he heard the claim from an exempt player on the PGA Tour, but would not reveal the player’s name.
After the PGA Tour and Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, denied the claims, Olsen backed off.
“It was only my opinion,” Olsen told ESPN.com. “Everything I said on that radio interview was only my opinion and not based on any firsthand knowledge or facts.
“I want to make a full retraction to everything I said for the entire radio interview, and I apologize to Tiger, Nike, Phil (Mickelson), (Commissioner) Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour.”
Olsen, whose only full season on the PGA Tour was 2004, not only said that Woods was suspended for using drugs, but that the Nike golf ball he plays is illegal.
He added that the equipment issue was bigger than the drug use.
“It’s not testosterone, but it’s something else,” Olsen told the station. “I think when it’s all said and done, he’s gonna surpass Lance Armstrong with infamy.
” … I’ll be looked at as just some crazy … nobody making accusations about Tiger.”
Ty Votaw, the PGA Tour’s executive vice president, denied the allegations made by Olsen.
That’s unusual, because the tour rarely comments on possible disciplinary matters.
“There is no truth whatsoever to these claims,” Votaw said. “We categorically deny these allegations.”
On Feb. 11, Woods announced that he was taking a break from the PGA Tour and would not return until he believes his game is competitive.
That came after he missed the cut in the Waste Management Phoenix Open and withdrew on the 12th hole of the first round in the Farmers Insurance Open last month because of back spasms.
“These claims are absolutely, unequivocally and completely false,” Steinberg said in a statement. “They are unsourced, unverified and completely ridiculous. The PGA Tour has confirmed that there is no truth to these claims.”
There has been speculation that Woods might return in two weeks for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where he has won eight times.
