Lance Armstrong on golf: 'I love adhering to a code of honor'
Lance Armstrong might be the most well-known "cheater" in the history of sports. The seven-time Tour de France champion has had each of those victories vacated due to an explosive doping scandal. But when it comes to golf, Armstrong would never dare cheat.
"Cycling, it was the Wild West. Nobody considered doping cheating," Armstrong wrote in an essay for Golf Digest. "It was an arms race where absolutely anything went, and it was every man for himself. You might consider me the last guy to have anything to say about cheating, but golf is different. I love adhering to a code of honor that we in cycling didn't have. If I moved my ball in the rough and got caught, I wouldn't just regret it, I'd be heartbroken forever. When I think about reform in cycling, I think about golf."
• Lance Armstrong attempts beer mile, drops out after one lap
It might seem ironic, but there's a certain amount of truth to it. Golf is considered a "gentlemen's game", where players are charged with acting as referees for themselves.
Some golf pros are even honest enough to disqualify themselves six days after the end of a tournament. Lance didn't admit to doping until more than seven years after his last Tour de France.
- Brad Rowland
