The first drug tests in golf took place at the men's and women's world amateur championships in Stellenbosch, South Africa last month and all samples collected came back negative for prohibited substances.

The International Golf Federation selected six players at random during each of the women's and men's competitions in October who were then tested by the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport.

Results from these first tests come in the same week the Ladies PGA Tour announced plans to start testing players for drugs in 2008, leaving the game's other major professional tours lagging behind.
   
LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens said specific details of the programme would be refined over the next six to nine months in conjunction with the National Center for Drug Free Sport.
   
Neither the PGA Tour nor the European Tour, the biggest and most lucrative circuits in the men's game, have drug policies and both have come under mounting pressure to change tack.
   
"While the LPGA has had no evidence to date of performance-enhancing drug use by our players, we recognise the concerns regarding drug use in sport and the need to have a clear policy and programme in place," said Bivens

"We want to take a proactive role in educating our members about nutritional and dietary supplements, while also promoting fair and equitable competition.
   
"Under the expert guidance of Drug Free Sport, we will work diligently to establish a policy that will focus on the protection of the health and safety of our members, and ensure that no one will have an artificially induced advantage to remain
 competitive."
   
The PGA Tour, the only major sports body in the US without a drug policy, has promised "very aggressive action" if a pattern of substance abuse ever develops while the European Tour says it is close to implementing its own programme.