Dustin Johnson Suspended For Cocaine Use...Maybe...

Earlier this week, we heard that Dustin Johnson would be taking an indefinite leave of absence in order to fix some things in his personal life and to "get the help he needs." He was incredibly vague throughout the statement, and refused to elaborate, only to say that he would be gone and he needed help with personal issues. This opened the door for massive speculation that Johnson may have been suspended by the PGA Tour, seeing as the Tour never publicly discloses suspensions.

The next day, an anonymous source told Golf.com (which I just now found out is a real site) that Dustin Johnson had, in fact, been suspended by the PGA Tour - six months, in fact, for cocaine use. It is Johnson's third failed drug test - one for marijuana use, and his second for cocaine. The marijuana test did not warrant a suspension, but the first cocaine test came with a two month suspension back in 2012. The PGA Tour was quick to deny the suspension, saying that Johnson is taking a leave of absence on his own accord.

Of course, the speculation wouldn't occur if the PGA Tour wasn't notorious for never publicly releasing suspension information. I understand that there is a level of privacy involved, but the PGA Tour remains the only major sports league to not publicly announce suspensions. Most people (including myself) are taking the PGA Tour's denial of the suspension with a grain of salt.

I will say, though, that the suspension is not that surprising to me. What is actually surprising is the fact that there aren't more young, successful golfers that get nailed with this kind of thing. I can't believe for a second that Dustin Johnson is the only man on Tour who has struggled with substance abuse problems. He just may be the only one who has been busted multiple times.

All that being said, I hope Johnson uses this time to get the help he needs and recover from this. He is too young and too talented to let something like cocaine slow down his career. In the words of Rick James "Cocaine is a hell of a drug." I also hope that we will soon see an end to this dumb policy by the PGA Tour. If Dustin Johnson's problem would have remained private, who knows if anyone would have stepped up to help him.