By Torleif Sorenson on 3/3/15

Last Friday, a PGA of America teaching professional from Michigan insisted on a sports talk radio program that Tiger Woods had been suspended one month for failing a drug test and that Woods had been using an illegal high-spin ball since "1998 or 1999." Woods has previously been linked with Dr. Anthony Galea, who was involved with disgraced baseball player Alex Rodriguez. Olsen also said that Rory McIlroy was doing the same, and that this was why Woods never signs golf balls.

Dan Olsen, a local teaching pro who first played on the PGA Tour in 1989, insisted that Woods would become the "Lance Armstrong of golf" when everything was revealed. He cited tour players that "are exempt" as his sources.

Reaction was both swift and ferocious:

Mark Steinberg, Tiger's agent

"These claims are absolutely, unequivocally and completely false. They are unsourced, unverified and completely ridiculous."

Ty Votaw, PGA Tour EVP

"There is no truth whatsoever to these claims. We categorically deny these allegations."

Votaw's comments are interesting because the PGA Tour has become well-known for acknowledging only the drug-related suspensions of Doug Barron and, most recently, Bhavik Patel.

On Monday afternoon, Olsen basically had no choice but to walk back his comments:

"I retract the entire interview. My comments were ill-advised. I want to apologize to Nike, the PGA Tour, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Tim Finchem."

"I retract the entire interview." Dan Olsen on his Tiger Woods claims. http://t.co/wrfyKBTRHA pic.twitter.com/R7xSBRWvtP

— Golf.com (@golf_com) March 3, 2015

According to his LinkedIn account, Olsen is working as a marketer with Paul Davis Companies, a firm specializing in fire and water damage and restoration. Olsen was previously employed by Walnut Hills Golf Club in East Lansing, Michigan, but he is no longer listed on the club's golf staff list. Now, we wonder if Olsen will be listed as a teaching pro on any golf course web site in the future.

We have a question we would like you to answer: Given his lurching, stop-and-start sentences, did Olsen seem to sound inebriated or intoxicated during this telephone interview?


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