Golf’s top professionals will be subjected to random drug tests beginning in 2008 under the sport’s first universal program against performance-enhancing substances.

The policy announced today will cover all players competing on professional tours around the world, U.S. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said on a media conference call.

While Finchem, who also serves as the head of the World Golf Foundation, and many of the game’s top players, including no. 1-ranked Tiger Woods, long have contended that drugs aren’t an issue in golf, the policy was developed to deter players from using

performance-enhancing substances, the commissioner said. “We are where we are, given the way of the world,” Finchem said. “I think it’s a positive day for golf.”

Penalties for golfers testing positive for a banned substance have yet to be determined, Finchem said. Players might be tested as soon as the first quarter of 2008, if a plan to be submitted to the golf foundation’s board of directors in November is approved, he said.

The U.S. Golf Association, which rules the sport in America and Mexico; the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, which oversees the sport in Europe and Canada; Augusta National Golf Club, which runs the Masters Tournament; and the PGA of America, agreed to support the drug sanctions. Those groups govern golf’s four major championships.

Each group will decide independently if it wants to test players for their respective major tournaments. A golfer testing positive on one tour would be banned from all tours in the group under reciprocity procedures still being developed, Finchem said.

The first phase of the policy, which was disclosed today, covers the development of a list of banned substances and methods. It will be similar to one released by the women’s LPGA Tour in March, which included most muscle-building steroids, adrenaline-diminishing beta-blockers, narcotics and stimulants, Finchem said. The list doesn’t include generally used drugs that the groups don’t believe will enhance performance in golf, Finchem said.

Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, praised golf for adopting a testing policy but blasted the omission of substances such as glucocorticosteroids, anti-inflammatory agents used to treat chronic conditions such as arthritis, asthma, inflamed joints and allergic reactions.

“It’s very disappointing to us that they would not use the list that has been developed under the code,” Pound said on a media conference call. “I don’t understand that.”

The policy’s second phase, which is being developed and will be disclosed in detail in 2008, will encompass six areas, including testing rules, medical exemptions and penalties.

An anti-doping office will be created by 2008 to coordinate all testing efforts. The U.S. PGA Tour will spend between $1 million and $1.5 million a year managing the drug testing procedures, Finchem said.

“It’s not an inexpensive plan to get involved in,” he said.

In July, nine-time major championship winner Gary Player said one golfer had admitted to him that he used performance-enhancing drugs and estimated that a small percentage of players on the world’s pro tours use steroids and other substances.