HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – The PGA Tour remains clean.
For the second consecutive week, no player, caddie or essential personnel tested positive for the coronavirus. The Tour administered 369 on-site tests ahead of this week’s RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links and all were negative, the PGA Tour announced Wednesday.
The Tour also oversaw 98 tests last weekend of players and caddies who took the charter flights from Texas to South Carolina.
At last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge – the first PGA Tour tournament in 13 weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic – 487 tests were conducted and zero negative results came up.
While this is terrific news, players at the RBC Heritage insist it’s no time to get complacent and everyone must continue to adhere to the protocols the PGA Tour developed in consultation with infectious disease experts intended to create a safety “bubble” to limit the risk of the coronavirus.
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“They have strict protocols while we’re onsite, but offsite it’s kind of up to us to be smart,” Webb Simpson said. “I think we’re seeing, with numbers spiking in various states, that people took this very seriously the first couple months, and I think the spike is probably because people are relaxing.
“I think I’m speaking for all the players, that if I miss a week, it’s detrimental to my FedExCup number, it’s detrimental to my contracts. There’s a lot riding on just us being eligible to play. I get nervous when I get the test result on my phone. When I have a notification and I’m opening the document up, I’m nervous because I know, if I get positive, I can’t play for a couple weeks, and that’s a big deal at this point in the season.
“I’m trying to be as careful as I can be. Hopefully, (no positives) will keep up. Guys need to make sure they’re not doing anything dumb.”
