Dustin Johnson denies cocaine issue

Dustin Johnson, who reportedly had been suspended by the PGA Tour for a positive drug test last summer but who the tour says is on a leave of absence, denied he has a cocaine problem, in interviews with ESPN and SI.com released on Tuesday.

Drugs "didn't really have a role in my life," Johnson told ESPN's Tom Rinaldi in an interview broadcast on Monday night.

He also told Rinaldi that he had never failed a drug test on the PGA Tour.

"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, adding that "the change I made is, I just don't do that anymore."

Also Monday, the eight-time PGA Tour winner told SI.comthat 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, who is engaged to Paulina Gretzky, the daughter of NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, announced he was stepping away from the game in late July. He missed the PGA Championship and the FedEx Cup playoffs, and he likely would have qualified for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Paulina Gretzky gave birth to the couple's first child -- a boy -- Monday. Johnson is expected to return to the PGA Tour soon and could do so at either the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines or the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Johnson told ESPN and SI.com that he and Paulina Gretzky have rented a house near Paulina's parents in Southern California, and "we have breakfast with them every morning, dinner every night with them," Johnson told Rinaldi.

He said he played golf six times a week with Wayne Gretzky. SI.com reported that he broke the Sherwood Country Club course record recently with a 61.

"I mean to have a mentor or a role model, you don't get any better than that," Johnson said of Wayne Gretzky. Johnson told SI.com that during his self-discovery process, he learned ways to deal with stress.

"My way of getting rid of it was drinking or partying," he told the website. "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."