Rahm Opens Up Six-Stroke Memorial Lead, Tests Positive For COVID-19 And It's A Total Mess
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AP’s Doug Ferguson reported on the shocking twist Saturday, with this scene getting a lot of attention after Jon Rahm opened a six-stroke Memorial lead:
The positive test was confirmed, the results returned as he was on the 18th green. Rahm was been asymptomatic all week.
He was withdrawn from the tournament, leaving Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa tied for the lead at 12-under 204.
“It’s kind of the worst situation for something like that to happen and he played awesome today and it’s just, it’s really a shame,” Cantlay said.
The PGA Tour statement revealed Rahm as having been exposed May 31st. He was in daily testing and his 4:20 pm result tested positive again at 6:03 pm while Rahm was on the 18th fairway. A “close contact” in the Tour guidelines is within six feet of a positive person for 15 minutes.
PGA Tour VP Andy Levinson answered questions after the withdrawal and could not confirm Rahm’s vaccination status. However, he did say Rahm is in the PGA Tour testing program still, essentially confirming he is not vaccinated for COVID-19.
Q. Can you say if Jon has been vaccinated and if he had been, would he not then have been required to test every day?
ANDY LEVINSON: I can't speak to Jon's vaccination status. That's an individual situation. But he was still part of our testing program, and he was required, under our contact tracing protocol to test as a result of that.
Q. So is it then fair to say that anyone who, had they been vaccinated still would have had to test every day like he did?
ANDY LEVINSON: Not necessarily. If someone had been fully vaccinated, and fully vaccinated under our protocol is, and it's defined by the CDC, is 14 days past the full cycle of a vaccination. They do not have to test as a result of being a close contact.
Q. If I could just ask one more. Thank you. Is there any consideration given to allowing him to -- allowing him to play simply because we're outdoors, the spacing, he wasn't being allowed to go indoors. I take it based on your earlier answer that the answer is no, but I just wonder if you could address that part.
ANDY LEVINSON: No, the CDC's protocol regarding people who are confirmed positive for COVID-19 is clear, and that is 10 days of isolation unless someone is asymptomatic and is able to produce two negative tests of a minimum of 24 hours apart. Unfortunately, the timing would not allow Jon to continue to participate.
Levinson also revealed the PGA Tour player vaccination rate is tracking “north of 50%”.
CBS handled the surprise news well, staying on as they were seconds from signing off due to the round lasting past their allotted time.
Jim Nantz, upon seeing Rahm’s reaction, said “this is not good” and after a few moments, stated somberly “we have no idea folks” before describing Rahm’sreaction as “instant devastation.” Part of the sequence:
Rahm spoke to media after completing his rain-delayed second round Saturday morning. Maskless:
Jack Nicklaus offered his sympathy via Twitter:
Rahm took to Twitter to thank fans and was met with sympathetic calls to have gotten vaccinated sooner.
Other player reaction has included scorn toward the Tour for releasing the news (Wesley Bryan) or even claims of government heavy-handedness (Jimmy Walker) preventing Tour officials from letting Rahm play Sunday:
