According to the US website www.golf.com troubled American Dustin Johnson has been handed a six-month suspension by the PGA Tour after failing a third drugs test.

Johnson shocked the golf world on Thursday saying he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from golf to deal with ‘personal challenges’.

www.golfbytourmiss.com had reported two days earlier there was a ‘mystery’ surrounding Johnson’s absence from this week’s WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.

Dustin Johnson now in serious doubt to defend his 2013 WGC – HSBC Champions title.(Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)

Now Johnson is out of next week’s PGA Championship, the lucrative FedEx Cup Play-Off Series and the Ryder Cup.

The PGA Tour then did Johnson little favour releasing a statement wishing Johnson a speedy return.

However www.golf.com says a source informed the website Johnson has been suspended by the PGA Tour after now failing a third recreational drugs use test.

When asked directly about Johnson’s failed drug tests and suspension, Ty Votaw, executive vice president of the PGA Tour, said Friday that the Tour would have no further comment.

The following is the story on www.golf.com:-

Johnson’s conduct has long been a topic of conversation among close observers of the Tour. He is often seen in bars near his home in Jupiter, Fla., and is also known to have had a sexual indiscretion with at least one wife of a PGA Tour player.

The suspension means Johnson, 30, will miss the PGA Championship — the season’s final major takes place next week in Louisville, Ky. — and also the PGA Tour’s lucrative FedEx Cup playoff series. Johnson’s agent, David Winkle of Hambric Sports Management, notified the PGA of America on Thursday that his client will also not be competing in the Ryder Cup in Scotland this September. Earlier this week, when asked if Johnson was about to be suspended by the PGA Tour, Winkle texted an SI reporter, “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

Winkle did not immediately respond to a request to comment on Johnson’s failed drug tests and suspension.

Last year, Johnson announced his engagement to Paulina Gretzky, daughter of hockey great Wayne Gretzky. She was seen with members of her family at this year’s Masters and also attended the U.S. Open. Gretzky, a model with a handful of small film credits, appeared on the May cover of Golf Digest as a fitness maven.

In 2012, Johnson played the Cadillac Championship at Doral in March and then did not play again for 11 weeks, until the Memorial in late May. Johnson said at the time that he was not playing because he hurt his back while lifting a jet ski. However, Golf.com’s source says that Johnson was actually serving a suspension for failing a drug test for cocaine. The PGA Tour had no official comment at that time and Winkle denied that Johnson had been suspended.

An eight-time winner on Tour, Johnson had been enjoying one of the most successful seasons of his career, logging a win, two seconds, and seven top 10s on the way to earning more than $4.2 million. He was a near certainty to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Johnson’s leave will make Team USA captain Tom Watson’s job easier. Watson has three captain’s picks for his 12-man team and, without Johnson on the squad, Patrick Reed moves up to the ninth and final automatic spot on the qualification points list. Phil Mickelson moves closer to that final berth, in 10th place. Tiger Woods remains well outside automatic qualification.

Considered one of the most lavishly talented players in the game, Johnson is without question one of the longest hitters.

At the British Open two weeks ago he hit one drive that measured 405 yards. His reputation as an extraordinary driver of the golf ball makes Johnson an important endorser of TaylorMade products. Earlier this year, then TaylorMade CEO Mark King was concerned about what he was hearing about Johnson’s private life but was told that there were no issues that would affect his ability to represent TaylorMade. (King is now president of Adidas North America, TaylorMade’s parent company.)

In a statement TaylorMade said it supported Johnson’s decision to temporarily step away from the PGA Tour. “We wish him well and look forward to his return,” the company added.