I hope Robert Garrigus doesn’t intend on being the Jose Canseco of the PGA. In an interview with Golf Digest, the American golfer admitted that he smokes marijuana mid-round on the Nationwide Tour in the early 2000’s.
Garrigus, 33, finished tied for third this month in the US Open and is enjoying a breakout season with his first ever cut in a major at Congressional. He struggled with drug abuse in the earlier part of his career but went through rehab and worked his way onto he PGA Tour.
Garrigus claims that in 2002, six years before the PGA began drug testing, he would sneak off to have a smoke during tournaments.
“Oh yeah, there were plenty of guys on the Nationwide Tour who smoked in the middle of the round,” Garrigus said. “We always talked about it. You could go in the Porta John and take your drags.”
“It was all golf and partying,” he added. “I never did hard drugs. I never did coke or LSD. It was just smoking and drinking and hanging out with friends.”
Garrigus credits finding religion to his recent success.
“I have learned to put all of my trust in God,” he says. “The whole reason I’m here is because I chose to change my life. I don’t go around knocking on people’s doors or anything. It’s not something that I wear on my sleeve, but if somebody asks me anything about my past, turning my life over to the Lord and trusting in Jesus is a huge part.”
Before finding God, Garrigus’ problem was more serious than people thought.
“The smoking got to be habitual: five, 10, maybe 20 times a day. I didn’t keep track of how much. I constantly needed to be high. And I took it to the max. Every single day. Mostly just smoking, smoking, smoking.”
We’ll see if he releases the names of others who he claims were also smoking with him during tournaments. Great to see he turned his life around.