In response to the arrest of Australian golfer Wayne Perske, Japan’s professional golf tour has announced that it will begin testing players for drugs.

Perske was arrested last week for allegedly carrying a packet containing 1.25 grams of cocaine at a bar in Japan’s Chiba prefecture. He faces up to seven years in prison. A ten-year pro, he has spent most of his playing time in Japan

Long before that, however, the Japanese tour will begin testing its players for illegal substances such as cocaine and marijuana, starting at the mid-November Taiheiyo Masters.

Certainly, golf has had a few stories of drug use and abuse, and if you expand the definition of mind-altering substances to include alcohol, there are plenty of well-known names who come under the spotlight. But for the most part, the game has avoided the drug problems that have infested most other pro sports. Clearly, though, golf fans and officials can’t pretend it can’t happen here.

Nearly winning a major, playing in the Ryder Cup, breaking big on the nationwide golf scene … clearly, that can do things to a man’s sanity, as Bubba Watson demonstrated on Tuesday on Twitter:

Oh, but it got worse. So, so much worse.

Golf. It’s not just for uptight, stiff-upper-lip country club types anymore. 

I know, I know, after reading that headline you think I’m crazy, but hear me out.

The Fall Series, for all it brings to the game of golf, is better than the FedEx Cup. By a lot.

Why? Because, unlike the FedEx Cup, the Fall Series is actual drama. It isn’t that "which multi-millionaire is going to cushion his retirement by nine figures" drama, it’s "which golfer is going to have a great job next season or just a good job." It’s "which player will be playing at places like Harbour Town and Riviera, or which will be playing at Hardscrabble Country Club and Midland Country Club?" It’s the difference in having a job the next year that will surely make your life a ton better, or driving from town to town hoping to find a good guy on the Nationwide Tour to bunk up with. It’s the difference in lobster tail and hot dogs.

Sure, sure, sure, the Fall Series doesn’t give us the likes of Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson (hell, it barely gives us Brian Davis and Jason Bohn), but it does give us names that must play well for something bigger than another zero on their year-end finances.

So far this season, the Fall Series has given us an up-and-comer claiming his second victory of the season (Bill Haas), a player that defined an already solid year with a big win (Heath Slocum), a fan-favorite that had made just eight of 23 cuts before his win at the Frys.com (Rocco Mediate) and a guy that made a hole-in-one in a playoff to win a tournament in the dark (Jonathan Byrd).

Sure, that list doesn’t really compare with Matt Kuchar, Charley Hoffman, Dustin Johnson and Jim Furyk, but it isn’t like those four names bring sponsors a-salivating.

Why is the Fall Series so great? Because it gives guys a chance to pad their stats, and for some reason, that works in golf. Having a terrible season that could be changed by a great week? Make sure you’re in at the Viking Classic. Need a win to just keep your card? Don’t be scared to join Justin Timberlake in Las Vegas.

A year ago, a guy that most sports fans hadn’t heard of turned pro around this time, and was invited into four Fall Series events. His first as a pro was a tie for seventh. Next, he lost in a playoff. Sadly, the young man was a canceled event away from probably earning his card just through the Fall Series, but the confidence he gained through all of that pushed him through at Q-School, and in case you didn’t know, had a good enough 2010 to earn a captain’s pick at the Ryder Cup. What did he do at Wales? Nothing more than finish with four straight birdies to snag a huge half point for the Americans. Yep, that guy was Rickie Fowler.

That’s drama, and it’s why these events, despite the rankings and the viewers and all that, is better than a playoff system invented to make the rich even richer.

You want real playoffs? Try needing a putt to keep your job.

There are a lot of knocks thrown John Daly‘s way, but nobody can say he isn’t honest about his past. Daly, 44, has been one of the most likable golfers in the history of the game, mainly because we have lived through his transgressions as his career continues to be the PGA Tour version of a yo-yo.

On Monday, Ron Green Jr. of The Charlotte Observer talked with Daly as he signed books at Rock Barn Golf and Spa, and Big John admitted a few things about his golf game, with the heaviest quote coming about how he used to play when he was liquored up.

"I’ve done everything right and haven’t played worth a" darn, Daly said. "It’s unbelievable. I’m giving myself the chance to play good. It seems the more I work, the worse I get." [...]

Daly was asked what he’s learned about himself through the years.

"That I was happy when I was a miserable drunk. I played better when I was drunk," he said.

Daly paused, smiled half a smile and gently shook his head.

"I don’t know," he said.

It might sound crazy, but it makes a little bit of sense when you think about it. When Daly was really hitting the bottle hard, he won two majors and two other PGA Tour events during that time. He was a golfer known for his long driving, but he had incredible touch around the greens.

While alcohol was most likely the reason his life spun out of control towards the end of the ’90s, it sure seemed to work for a short period of time. Now, as Daly said, he is doing "everything right" and can’t seem to find any success on the golf course. Daly hasn’t had a top-10 finish on tour in four years, and hasn’t won since 2004, when he got up and down from a bunker to win a playoff at the Buick Invitational.

He still is a guy that golfers will follow because we as humans can relate to the guy. We screw up, and unlike some of the top golfers in the game, Daly admits when he does wrong and that is something we can all appreciate. In a few years he will take his talents to the Champions Tour, and with his ability to continue to smack the ball a country mile, could have some success on the shorter courses similar to Fred Couples this season.

All that talk about golfers not being tough? Yeah, trot this story out the next time your pal says football players are icons of toughness. When’s the last time Peyton Manning got bitten by a snake on the field, huh?

That exact trauma befell European Tour player Melissa Reid, who was playing last weekend at the Sanya Ladies Open in China. In the midst of a 3-under round, Reid felt a sharp pain in her ankle, and — well, let’s just let her caddie, Lee Griffiths, take it from here:  

“We were on the 16th and Mel said, ‘Oh my God, Lee, I’ve been bitten by a snake!’ It was about six foot and jumped at her out of the grass from behind a drain. I saw its fangs and I said, ‘I can see it’s bitten you because you’re bleeding. We had reassurance from the green-keeper that it’s not deadly."

Oh, good thing, the whole not-deadly business and all. After a doctor attended to Reid, she calmly chipped to within 6 feet of the hole and sank the birdie putt.

The snake, alas, remains at large.

[Visor tip: Waggle Room.]