Did a PGA Tour pro help Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn realize he might be suffering from COVID-19?
It sure sounded that way on the debut episode of the HBO series “Hard Knocks,” which is focusing on the Chargers and Los Angeles Rams this season. Lynn disclosed in the opening scene that he tested positive for the coronavirus.
“I can’t promise you you’re not going to get infected,” Lynn told players on a videoconference call. “I got infected.”
He credited watching a Tour event on TV and hearing one of the participants who had withdrawn from the tournament after testing positive. Lynn explained that the golfer mentioned his symptoms, which sounded familiar to Lynn, who was experiencing a cough and body aches.
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“If I hadn’t been watching the golf event and saw that golfer complaining about back aches and soreness, I never even would have gotten tested,” Lynn said. “I never even would have known it and probably got [other] people infected.”
Lynn didn’t mention the Tour pro who triggered his decision to get tested by name, but Nick Watney was the first Tour pro to test positive at the RBC Heritage in June. Denny McCarthy was another player who withdrew during a tournament — the Travelers Championship — around the time that Lynn tested positive.
When Dr. Herb Martin, the Chargers team psychologist, asked Lynn how he felt after testing positive, he said, “The first thing, you feel a little bit like an outcast. That was probably harder for me than the sickness, feeling like, ‘I can’t go here or I’m going to infect this person.’ All of a sudden, I’m the problem. When you’re used to fixing the problem, now I’m the problem.”
Lynn has since made a full recovery.
