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 Players possibly headed to Rio were placed into the Olympic
testing pool, which is more stringent than the anti-doping protocols
used by the PGA Tour.
On-site testing at tournaments will be similar to what players have
seen since the PGA Tour began its anti-doping program in 2008, with
the addition of blood testing.
The biggest difference will take place away from tournament sites,
with an intensified focus on out-of-competition testing and the
addition of whereabouts requirements.
"It's something that has been aggressively presented to the athletes
in as many formats as possible," said Andy Levinson, executive
director of policy administration for the Tour.
"Everybody has been educated about the process, and at this point,
everybody that has been registered in the testing pool has fully
completed the whereabouts requirements or is in the process of
completing it."
Under the whereabouts requirements, players must inform officials
where they will be spending each night as well as where they will be
one hour out of each day for possible out-of-competition testing.
 Potential Olympic athletes will use an app on their smart phones to
fulfill the whereabouts requirements in a system called "ADAMS,"
which tracks a player's schedule and informs him or her when they
are not compliant.
On days in which players are in competition, they do not have to
fulfill the whereabouts requirement, but if they miss the cut, they
must update their whereabouts.
Levinson said the whereabouts requirement has been the most
asked-about element of the new testing, and for good reason. Three
whereabouts failures are treated as an anti-doping violation, which
is not all that uncommon.
"I'll be taking care of all my whereabouts on the app, so I'll be
going over that and making sure I know how to handle everything,"
said Rickie Fowler, one of four players from the United States
currently qualified for the Olympics.
"I want to make sure that I can change it on the fly and be able to,
if there is a last-minute change of plans, that way I'm on top of it
and there's no question there."
In a recent report from the World Anti-Doping Agency of the 1,693
anti-doping violations worldwide in 2014, 231 were non-analytical
violations that did not include a positive test.
--Maverick McNealy of Stanford, Beau Hossler of Texas and Jon Rahm
of Arizona State, last year's winner, were selected as finalists for
the Ben Hogan Award by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
All three finalists are ranked among the top six in all four major
ranking systems -- the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the Scratch
Players World Amateur Ranking, the Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking and the
Golfstat Individual Ranking.
Hossler is ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin and Golfstat
rankings and is third in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking.
He leads the nation with five college victories during the 2015-16
season, including four during the spring season.
The junior from Mission Viejo, Calif., owns a 69.73 scoring average
and has nine top-10 finishes in 10 tournaments this season,
including second in the Big 12 Conference championship.
 Rahm is No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and is second in the
Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking. He has three college
victories this season, including the Pacific 12 Conference
championship, and has four other results in the top five.
The senior from Spain has finished in the top 10 in all 11
tournaments he has played this season and has a 69.26 scoring
average.
McNealy, a junior from Portola Valley, Calif., is second in the
World Amateur Golf Ranking, Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking and Golfstat
Ranking. He has four tournament titles this season and has placed in
the top 10 in eight of his 10 tournaments, including sixth in the
Pacific 12 Conference championship.
His 10 victories in his Stanford career put him one behind the
record set by Tiger Woods in 1996 and tied by Patrick Rodgers in
2014. McNealy has a 69.19 scoring average this season.
The award will be presented on May 23 at Colonial Country Club in
Fort Worth, Texas.
Previous winners include: D.J. Trahan of Clemson (2002); Ricky
Barnes of Arizona (2003); Hunter Mahan of Oklahoma State (2003);
Bill Haas of Wake Forest (2004); Ryan Moore of UNLV (2005); Matt
Every of Florida (2006); Chris Kirk of Georgia (2007); Rickie Fowler
of Oklahoma State (2008); Kyle Stanley of Clemson (2009); Nick
Taylor of Washington (2010); Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State (2011);
Patrick Cantlay of UCLA (2012); Chris Williams of Washington (2013);
Rodgers (2014) and Rahm (2015).
--Stewart Cink announced that he is taking a competitive leave from
the PGA Tour to be with his wife, Lisa, who was recently diagnosed
with breast cancer.
Cink, who withdrew from the Wells Fargo Championship last week,
posted this note to his more than 1.1 million followers on Twitter:
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"Last week my wife, Lisa, and I received some unfortunate news. Lisa
has been diagnosed with breast cancer -- a startling and unexpected
revelation for everyone in our family. We are still in the process
of figuring out exactly what she is fighting, and the uncertainty
continues to be very difficult. However, we serve a great God, and
our friends and family have been and will be by her side every step
of the way.
"In order to assist Lisa in meeting this challenge, I will be
stepping away from competitive golf until circumstances improve for
her. Hopefully that day will come quickly. Please keep our family in
your thoughts and prayers as we move forward."
Cink added this Tweet later: "Since I was 15 years old, @lisacink
has been my biggest supporter. It's now time for me to return the
favor."
The 42-year-old Cink has six victories in his PGA Tour career,
including the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry, where he defeated
Tom Watson by six strokes in a four-hole aggregate playoff.
Cink, who has not won since claiming his only major title, has two
top-25 finishes in 14 starts this season on the PGA Tour, including
a tie for 17th in the CIMB Classic. He has not played since missing
the cut in the RBC Heritage last month.
--Australia's Marc Leishman became the latest player to remove
himself from consideration for the golf competition at the Olympic
Games in Rio de Janeiro in August, and he has a compelling reason.
Leishman cited concerns over the health of his family because of the
mosquito-borne Zika virus after his wife, Audrey, nearly died last
year from toxic shock syndrome.
After consulting with doctors, Leishman decided he couldn't risk the
trip to Brazil.
"Last April my children and I almost lost Audrey," Leishman said in
a statement released by the PGA of Australia. "Since then Audrey has
been prone to infection and is far removed from 100 percent recovery
of her immune system.
"We have consulted with Audrey's physician and due to her ongoing
recovery and potential risks associated with the transmission of the
Zika virus it was a difficult yet easy decision not to participate."
Brazil is at the center of a Zika outbreak, with Rio de Janeiro
getting special attention because 10,500 athletes and up to 500,000
foreign visitors are expected for the Games.
Last month, U.S. health officials said that enough evidence existed
to say the virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small
heads.
"I missed playing in the 2015 Masters tournament to be at her side
when she was originally stricken, and I cannot risk placing her
health in jeopardy," Leishman said.
Leishman joined Adam Scott, who might have been his Australian
teammate, South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, and
Fiji's Vijay Singh as golfers who said they will not compete at Rio.
Australia's Jason Day, No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings, has said he
will play when golf returns to the Olympics for the first time since
1904 in St. Louis.
Marcus Fraser, No. 63 in the world, and Matt Jones, No. 71, remain
possibilities to join Day on the Australian team.
--Sir Bob Charles of New Zealand, who won the 1963 Open Championship
at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, was made an honorary member of the
Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.
The 80-year-old Charles, who claimed 80 titles around the world
during his career, was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in
St. Augustine, Fla., in 2008.
"I am extremely proud and gratified to be invited to become an
Honorary Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club," Charles said.
"Winning The Open was a tremendous part of my career, and I have
always had a huge affinity for the Championship and the wonderful
links courses on which it is played.
"The club is at the heart of golf in St Andrews and it is a
privilege to follow so many other great champions in becoming part
of its history."
Charles, who was born in Carterton on New Zealand's North Island in
1936, won the New Zealand Open as an amateur in 1954 and enjoyed an
extensive amateur career before turning pro in 1960.
In 1963, he became the first left-handed golfer to win on the PGA
Tour at the Houston Classic.
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