Vijay Singh sues for damage to his reputation caused by doping case

Vijay Singh has launched a lawsuit against the PGA Tour, claiming his reputation was damaged in a highly-publicised doping case.

Singh filed the lawsuit in New York, where he has a home and the PGA Tour is based, just a week after the deer antler spray case was dropped, a case the suit claimed left him "humiliated, ashamed, ridiculed, scorned and emotionally distraught."

The Fijian, 50, admitted in a Sports Illustrated article in January that he had used the spray, which was said to include an insulin-like growth hormone that was on the tour's list of banned substances.

The tour sent a sample from Singh to be tested, which returned small amounts of the IGF-1 chemical, and he was notified on 19 February that he was to be suspended for 90 days.

Singh appealed and last week PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said the tour was dropping its case based on new information from the World Anti-Doping Agency - he said WADA informed the tour that using deer antler spray was no longer prohibited because it contains such minimal amounts of IGF-1.

The lawsuit said the Tour relied on WADA's list of banned substances and methods without doing any of its own research, including whether such substances even provide any performance-enhancing benefits.

"I am proud of my achievement, my work ethic and the way I live my life," Singh said in a statement.

"The PGA Tour not only treated me unfairly, but displayed a lack of professionalism that should concern every professional golfer and fan of the game."