Brooks Koepka has joined Graeme McDowell in withdrawing from the Travelers Championship after his caddy has tested positive for coronavirus.
Northern Irish bagman Ricky Elliott tested positive on Wednesday morning at TPC River Highlands having previously tested negative 48 hours earlier when he arrived at the tournament.
It comes after McDowell withdrew from the PGA tour event after his caddie, Ken Comboy, also tested positive for the virus.
Koepka told Golfweek: “I’m going to pull out to protect everybody else. I think it’s the right thing to do.
"I don’t want to risk anyone’s life if they have respiratory issues or underlying conditions.
"The only way this Tour can continue is if guys to do this sort of thing and be proactive about it.”
McDowell's caddy Comboy believes he may have been exposed to the virus when travelling on a crowded flight after the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas two weeks ago.
So having played a practice round with McDowell on Tuesday, Koepka, his caddy Elliott and his coach Claude Harmon III went for additional Covid-19 tests today - and found that Elliott had the virus.
“Ricky has my full support in this. I feel bad for him,” four-time major winner Koepka said.
"We have got to do everything we can to not spread it. We have to protect the field. That’s the reason we have these rules.”
McDowell, meanwhile, tested negative for the virus on Monday. He said he felt slightly tired last week, but put that down to "been through a huge amount emotionally and mentally" and the resumption of golf.
He added: “I’d been through a huge amount emotionally and mentally, and a couple of weeks back into it after a few months off you’re going to be a little tired getting your golf legs back.
"But the alarm bells have started to ring now that Kenny has failed this test.
“We’re a close-knit team. We roomed together last week, we spent six hours in a car. He’s carrying the virus so in some way I have to be carrying it too.”
It is the latest blow for the PGA Tour to its resumption behind closed doors with players Nick Watney and Cameron Champ also testing positive for Covid-19.
The tour has moved to distribute over 1,000 Whoop devices to players and officials to monitor their health - the technology that initially alerted Watney to his status.
