McIlroy comes to Singh's defence

Last updated: 23rd February 2013

Rory McIlroy has defended Vijay Singh's use of deer antler spray, while the PGA Tour continues to investigate the substance.

The spray, which is said to contain the banned growth hormone IGF-1, has landed the Fijian in a spot of bother, with the PGA Tour set to decide on a possible punishment after The Masters in April.

Some professionals have called for Singh's suspension, and while the world number one agrees that some form of punishment is probably in order, he believes Singh made an honest mistake.

"Vijay wasn't aware that he was taking anything wrong or he was taking anything that was banned," said McIlroy, who added that he has never been drug tested at an event before.

"I think it was an honest mistake. Of course if you take something, you've got to be penalised in some way because you might be getting an unfair advantage against the field. But I think golf is clean.

"I don't see how any real performance enhancing drugs can help because, if you take steroids or you take growth hormone or anything like that in golf, you're going to get strong and you're going to get big but you might lose your feel.

"If you take a beta blocker or something that's going to relax you, you're going to get too relaxed and you lose concentration. I don't see any sort of drug out there that could really help a golfer across the board."

Singh turned 50 on Friday and is now eligible to play on the Champions Tour, though any firm decisions on his future will have to wait a while.