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'The Covid-19 Threeball': PGA Tour players who tested positive allowed to tee off at Workday Charity Open

Muirfield Village Golf Club, Ohio - 'The Covid-19 Threeball': PGA Tour players who tested positive allowed to tee off at Workday Charity Open - AP PHOTO
Muirfield Village Golf Club, Ohio - 'The Covid-19 Threeball': PGA Tour players who tested positive allowed to tee off at Workday Charity Open - AP PHOTO

Three players on the PGA Tour will be allowed to tee off in the first round of the Workday Charity Open on Wednesday despite testing positive for coronavirus.

Officials have decided to send the trio out in the same group - inevitably labelled 'The Covid-19 Threeball' - but whether this assuages the other players in the field - including Spain’s Jon Rahm, who would replace Rory McIlroy as world No 1 with victory in Ohio - remains to be seen.

Nick Watney, Denny McCarthy and Dylan Frittelli have all tested positive since the Tour’s restart last month and have immediately withdrawn from the respective tournaments as a result. They have been tested at regular times since, but continued to test positive.

Yet still they are being permitted to play at the £5m event at Muirfield Village because they meet the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for returning to work. “They are not presumed to be contagious,” Dr Tom Hospel, the Tour’s medical advisor, said.

It is a complex, if not bizarre scenario that is bound to raise so many eyebrows if any of these players get into contention - because they will presumably have to play on their own on the weekend.

Viktor Hovland of Norway, Gary Woodland of the United States and Jon Rahm of Spain walk to the 12th green during the first round of the Workday Charity Open on July 09, 2020 at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio - GETTY IMAGES
Viktor Hovland of Norway, Gary Woodland of the United States and Jon Rahm of Spain walk to the 12th green during the first round of the Workday Charity Open on July 09, 2020 at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio - GETTY IMAGES

“They would play either individually or with people in similar situations, and they would have some restricted access on‑site,” Andy Levinson, the Tour’ senior vice president, said. “They would not be allowed in any of the facilities on‑site. However, they would be permitted to compete.”

The news comes a week after the Tour transitioned to a test-based model for asymptomatic cases. In accordance with those CDC guidelines, a player or caddie who tests positive but has not displayed symptoms may play again if he returns two negative tests, a minimum of 24 hours apart.

Meanwhile, any player or caddie who tests positive with symptoms and continues to test positive can return provided that either at least three days have passed since recovery or at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.

“In the beginning stages of the illness, the virus is assumed to be an active virus that can cause infection, can be contagious,” Hospel said. “As time passes and as symptoms resolve, and the patient or individual doesn't have any fever and 10 days have passed, at that point the thought and theory is that this virus… is no longer active… or can potentially cause ongoing infection.”

The question may be asked, if the Tour is so confident that these players are not contagious, why are they being treated differently? A total of six players and two caddies have tested positive in the first four weeks of the resumption.