TEEING OFF

Five things to look for this weekend on the pro golf scene:

1. As the PGA Tour prepares to kick off its anti-doping program, it might want to take a look at a new study that indicates about one-quarter of ordinary supplements could be contaminated, although probably inadvertently.

That could be bad news for any PGA Tour pro who takes any kind of supplement, even energy drinks, performance bars or weight-loss products, and purchased at familiar retail outlets and Internet sites.

Someone is going to test positive for a prohibited substance on the PGA Tour -- that’s what the study reveals, according to an expert.

“The PGA Tour has a drug-testing program, PGA Tour members will take supplements, a portion of those will be contaminated, so it is a guarantee that the PGA Tour will be compromised,” said David Hall, chief executive of HFL Limited.

Hall’s company is an England-based anti-doping lab that conducted the study in partnership with Informed-Choice.

In the research, 58 supplements were tested and 25% showed the presence of steroid contamination and 11% showed the existence of banned stimulants.

Hall said the levels of contamination are too low to be detected using routine methods but high enough to possibly generate a positive urine test.

Kelly Hoffman, executive director of Informed-Choice, which partners with supplement companies and HFL, said she has been in contact with the PGA Tour to see if there’s interest in working toward identifying safe supplements as the new anti-doping plan moves forward.

Ty Votaw, an executive vice president for the PGA Tour, said the player education process about the anti-doping program is in its early stages and that studies of supplements are a component.

“We’ll be examining all of these types of reports and making decisions so that players are as educated as they can be,” Votaw said.

2. Todd Demsey, the 35-year-old who regained his tour card at qualifying school, is back for the first time since 1997. He makes his debut this week at the Sony Open.

Demsey is better known for returning to the big show after two operations to remove a benign tumor behind his left sinus and into his brain in 2003.

“I’ve always believed in myself,” he said. “You start to wonder if you’ll ever get back out here, but I just felt I could do it, and luckily I was patient enough to stick it out.”

3. Charley Hoffman will try to defend his championship in the $5-million Bob Hope Chrysler Classic on a course he has never seen. At least he’s not alone, because SilverRock resort joins the Hope’s rotation this year for the first time.

Hoffman handled first-time things last year, when he won the Hope in his first time out. Hoffman still hasn’t seen SilverRock, but he got some time in at the other courses in December and plans to get out early before the event next week.

Hoffman, 32, had only one other top 10 the rest of the year and missed 18 cuts. He said his victory in the desert enabled him to enter tougher tournaments, and he had trouble.

“It’s definitely a different caliber of player in quality golf tournaments, like World Golf Championship tournaments, the Memorial, Bay Hill. You’ve got Tiger and Phil and great players in there. Other tournaments, instead of missing the cut by a shot, you make it because they’re not playing.”

4. Tech geeks unite: The scoop after Week 1 of the PGA Tour is that Masters champion Zach Johnson added a new Titleist fairway metal to his bag and increased the loft of his 905R driver from 8.5 degrees to 9.5. Also, for what it’s worth, 20 of the 31 players in the field at Kapalua played Titleist balls, and winner Daniel Chopra and runner-up Steve Stricker used the Pro V1.

But wait, there’s more. Rory Sabbatini signed with Adams Golf and left Nike (the Swooshes say his dispute with Tiger had nothing to do with it), and growing LPGA superstar Suzann Pettersen signed with Nike.

5. It pays to be commissioner of the PGA Tour. Tim Finchem’s salary increased $1 million to $5.4 million in 2006, according to SportsBusiness Journal, which studied Finchem’s tax filings. Finchem received $922,500 in salary and nearly $3 million in incentive bonuses from PGA Tour Inc. He also received $1.3 million from PGA Tour Holdings, the tour-owned private subsidiary that runs the TPC courses. PGA Tour Inc. is classified as a nonprofit organization.

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STAT OF THE WEEK

Daniel Chopra’s victory at Kapalua made him the seventh consecutive foreign-born player to win there, joining Vijay Singh in 2007, Stuart Appleby in 2004-2006, Ernie Els in 2003 and Sergio Garcia in 2002.

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THE TOURNAMENT

PGA TOUR

Sony Open in Hawaii

When: Today-Sunday.

Where: Waialae Country Club (7,044 yards, par 70), Honolulu.

Purse: $5.3 million. Winner’s share: $954,000.

Television: Golf Channel (Today-Sunday, 4-7:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m.-1 a.m.

2007 winner: Paul Goydos.

All times Pacific

Associated Press

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A SLICE OF LIFE

Charley Hoffman, defending Bob Hope Chrysler Classic champion, said he isn’t even going to read the list of banned substances or any part of the PGA Tour’s handbook on its anti-doping program:

‘If Bud Light’s not on the list, then I’m all right.’