The Northern Irishman also said he believed golf needed to “improve its testing” due to the fact it is now an Olympic sport.

McIlroy made the comments during a press conference ahead of The Open Championship, during which he dealt another blow to golf’s Olympic future when he said the Rio 2016 tournament “didn’t matter”.

“I've been tested once this year but it was only a urine test,” he said.

“You can't really pick up HGH [human growth hormone] in a urine test, so I could use HGH and get away with it.”

Data from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revealed 507 tests were carried out on golfers in 2014.

A total of eight positive cases were found as a result.

International Golf Federation (IGF) President Peter Dawson, a former chief executive of the R&A, which organises The Open and governs the sport worldwide along with the United States Golf Association, had claimed testing had been “sufficient” at last year’s Open.

This was despite confirming only eight tests had been conducted.

“Our anti-doping policy follows that of the European Tour," R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said.

“For those players that are in the registered testing pool for the Olympics there is the IGF additional testing that is being carried out during this week.

"Our belief is that we should be as a sport right at the highest level of standards around anti-doping and that's something that the tours and ourselves are privately talking about behind closed doors."

England’s Justin Rose disagreed with McIlroy’s claims, insisting golf’s anti-doping programme was “comprehensive enough to me”.

Dustin Johnson of the United States, the current world number two, is arguably the most high-profile player to have failed a drugs test.

The American, winner of the US Open last month, tested positive for recreational substances three times – in 2009, 2012 and 2014.

Johnson then opted to take a six-month break from the sport in July 2014 in order to seek professional help.