PGA Tour sends out Covid-19 positive threeball at Workday Charity Open
The PGA Tour has deployed its first Covid-19 threeball after confirming a trio of players who returned positive tests would remain in the field for the Workday Charity Open.
The tour has cited guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as key to allowing Dylan Frittelli, Denny McCarthy and Nick Watney to play in Ohio but the move is known to have raised eyebrows among fellow competitors.
Late on Wednesday evening, hours before round one was due to get under way, Frittelli, McCarthy and Watney were removed from their existing tee groupings and placed together.
In a statement, the tour confirmed: “Dylan Frittelli, Denny McCarthy and Nick Watney will follow the symptombased model, as they have continued to return positive tests but meet the CDC guidelines for return to work.
“The tour’s medical advisers and the CDC have indicated that PCR tests have shown a possibility of detecting viral
RNA even after the infectious virus is no longer present. This would potentially become a persistent positive test result, despite the individual not being contagious.
“Out of an abundance of caution, however, any player or caddie who meets the above criteria but continues to return a positive Covid-19 test will either compete as a single in competition or be grouped with players under the same situation, and he will also have no access to indoor facilities on site.”
Watney became the first player after the PGA Tour’s resumption to test positive for coronavirus, before the second round of the RBC Heritage on 19 June. McCarthy withdrew from the Travelers Championship a week later. Frittelli tested positive before looking to fly to last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. “I am experiencing no issues and feel great physically and was surprised and disappointed to learn of the positive test,” the South African said at the time.
Further explanation by the tour of its updated criteria states: “Cases in which a player or caddie tested positive and continues to test positive, the tour follows a symptom-based model, as outlined by the CDC, allowing for him to return to competition if: at least three days have passed since recovery, which is defined as resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and improvement in respiratory symptoms; and, at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.”