Doug Barron seeks redemption through brand endorsement

02 March 2011 | Posted in Personal Endorsement, Golf, North America | By Tom Love

Testosterone therapy product Testopel has announced a sponsorship agreement with professional golfer Doug Barron.

Barron, the first and only player in professional golf to be suspended for doping, was suspended for a year by the PGA for violating its anti-doping policy after taking an unnamed testosterone replacement medication in November 2009.

In September 2010 the PGA Tour lifted the ban on Barron by granting the golfer a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for testosterone replacement therapy.

Barron said of his new endorsement deal: "I appreciate the fact that the people who market Testopel saw my suspension as an injustice and stood up and spoke out about it, even though their product was not even the one I was using. I look forward to working closely with Testopel. I believe that together we are going to make an important contribution to the cause of men's health. I intend to make this a cause."

Robert S. Whitehead, president and chief executive of Slate Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the company that markets the product, said: "The reason we are taking this unusual step of sponsoring a professional athlete who has had such a label unjustly hanged upon him is that by its ill-advised action the PGA Tour made an unfortunate contribution to medical ignorance and harmed efforts to improve men's health."

Whitehead added: "Doug Barron's only offence was being the innocent victim of other people's ignorance. We look forward to this relationship with him." No financial terms of the sponsorship have been disclosed.