Mid-Apology, Woods Denies Drug Use

Buried in the middle of Tiger Woods' silence-breaking apology for his extramarital affairs Friday was a vehement denial that he's ever used performance-enhancing drugs.

"Some people have made up things that never happened. They said I used performance-enhancing drugs. This is completely and utterly false," Woods said during a televised statement at the PGA's headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Woods' response likely stems from rumors that circulated when a doctor who once treated him was arrested in Toronto last October and found with human growth hormone and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf's blood, The New York Times reported.

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The FBI opened an investigation based in part on medical records found on Dr. Anthony Galea's computer relating to several professional athletes, people briefed on the inquiry told the Times on condition of anonymity.

Galea visited Woods' home in Florida at least four times in February and March, the newspaper reported, to provide that platelet therapy after his agents were concerned by his slow recovery from June 2008 knee surgery.

While acknowledging he used HGH himself for 10 years, Galea told the newspaper he never gave any athletes the substance, which was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. And Galea told the Times he has never combined HGH or Actovegin with his platelet treatments.

"All these athletes come see me in Canada cause I fix them, and I think people just assume that I'm giving them stuff," he told the newspaper. "They don't have to come to me to get HGH and steroids. You can walk into your local gym in New York and get HGH."

Prescribing HGH is legal in Canada; it can be used in the United States but only in a few instances that don't include hastening recovery from surgery.