DUBLIN, Ohio – The COVID-19 pandemic has altered nearly every aspect of everyday life, and Saturday at the Memorial, the coronavirus will produce another awkward situation.
Last week’s clarification to its health and safety plan that would allow players who continue to test positive for coronavirus to compete if certain conditions are met means the weekend tee sheet at Muirfield Village will include three one-somes.
Three players who fell under the “timed out” policy made the cut – Dylan Frittelli, Denny McCarthy and Harris English – and because they are not tied through 36 holes they will be sent out at the same time as others with the same score.
Frittelli, who was at 3 under after a second-round 68, planned to have another COVID-19 test Friday but the result wasn’t available in time to allow him to be paired outside of the “timed out” policy.
“I'm not going to be too worried,” Frittelli said. “It may just take a bit of walking slowly between shots and just trying to pace yourself so you don't end up waiting for every shot. But I've played golf before; I've played on my own. It's still golf at the end of the day.”
Under the CDC’s symptom-based model, players who test positive but have been in isolation for at least 10 days since they first had symptoms and have gone 72 hours without any fever or respiratory issues may return to competition.