• PGA Tour

Dustin Johnson: I don't have a cocaine problem

Dustin Johnson has denied he has a cocaine problem © Getty Images

Enlarge

Dustin Johnson, who had reportedly been suspended by the PGA Tour for a positive drug test last summer but who the tour says is on a leave of absence, has denied he has a cocaine problem.

Drugs "didn't really have a role in my life", Johnson said.

"Like everyone, I'm tested regularly by the Tour," he said. "And as far as that's concerned ... I haven't failed anything."

He attributed his problems to drinking too much.

"I would drink and drink to excess," he said. "I just don't do that anymore."

The eight-time PGA Tour winner said he did not go into rehab but instead brought in a group of experts, including a life coach, to better handle the pressures surrounding him and to figure things out internally to tap into his potential.

"I did not have a problem," he said, talking specifically about cocaine, which was the cause of the positive drug test, according to Golf.com. "It's just something I'm not going to get into. I have issues. But that's not the issue."

Johnson announced he was stepping away from the game in late July. He missed the PGA Championship and the FedEx Cup play-offs, and he likely would have qualified for the US Ryder Cup team.

Johnson's fiancée Paulina Gretzky gave birth to the couple's first child on Monday and Johnson said of her father, NHL legend Wayne Gretzky: "I mean to have a mentor or a role model, you don't get any better than that."

"My way of getting rid of stress was drinking or partying," he said. "Yeah, that might work for that day or the next week, but eventually everything keeps piling up."

Johnson also reportedly said he decided to shrink the number of people who are close to him, declining to name who was cut out of his inner circle.

Referring to his golf game, he said: "I don't think I've even scratched the surface. And that was a really big part of what I've been doing, to help myself reach that potential."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd