South Africa’s Branden Grace, who was in contention ant the midway stage of the Barracuda Championship prior has tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the third round at Greenwood Golf Course at Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee.
He has withdrawn from the event and will also miss next week’s PGA Championships for which he had qualified.
Grace’s caddie tested negative for COVID-19, but in accordance with CDC guidelines and TOUR health and safety protocols, he will quarantine for a period of 14 days. Grace will have the PGA TOUR’s full support throughout his self-isolation period of 10 days per CDC guidelines and TOUR health and safety protocols.
In a statement released by the PGA Tour, Grace was quoted as saying, “I felt great all week. Last night, I was tired and thought it had to do with the altitude. This morning, I notified the PGA TOUR about my symptoms before going to the golf course. I wanted to get tested out of respect for my peers and everyone involved with the tournament. While it is unfortunate given my position on the leader board, the most important thing is our health.”
The winner of 2020 South African Open, Grace is ranked 79th in the world and was lying second after. Two rounds.
Grace was paired with Robert Streb, who after the withdrawal had to play by himself. Streb, asked when did he find out, said, “I think when I was driving to the course. I got a message, didn’t really look at it, then I got here, opened it, and I was like, I wonder why I got another tee time, and I was like, odd deal. Obviously very nice of him to think of it for everybody else, go get tested. Probably sucks that he was playing so well and that happened, but yeah, hopefully he heals quickly and gets back to normal.”
Streb with 24 points is now Tied for fourth. On playing alone, Streb added, “(The last time), I think it was Sunday at Greenbrier in the fall. I had played so bad on Saturday, I think we played in about two hours. Yeah, usually when you’re by yourself you’re at the end of the wave and you get around in two and a half hours or whatever and off you go.”
Grace is the eighth PGA Tour player to test positive and the second South African after Dylan Frittelli caught the virus last month.
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