By Rahul Banerji
Professional sport around the world is tip-toeing back to life but at every stage the threat from the Covid-19 virus is a real and active one.
A handful of European football leagues have resumed led by the German Bundesliga.
On Tuesday, Liverpool moved to within two points of the Premiership title with a 4-0 demolition of Crystal Palace while Real Madrid and Juventus solidified their respective league leads.
Formula One is slated to start its truncated season with the first of two races at the Red Bull Ring in Austria early next month, but it is golf that has really shown the way.
Through the pandemic restrictions, the Cactus Tour continued its schedule in Arizona, the only pro golf being played anywhere. The PGA Tour returned just under three weeks ago and a sponsored partial schedule for women professionals has begun in England.
Real threat
The threat of the virus though, is ever-present.
For a second successive week, the PGA Tour, which has mounted a formidable defence against Covid-19, had to announce virus related withdrawals.
This time, it came at the Travellers Championship in Connecticut that began on Thursday with five players and caddies pulling out ahead of the first day.
The Tour has sought to enclose itself in a bubble with frequent testing and strict protocols, despite which the virus managed to seep through.
“We all need to remind ourselves that we’re all learning to live with this virus,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said at a Wednesday press conference.
“It’s pretty clear that this virus isn’t going anywhere,” he added at TPC River Highlands.
Leading the way
Monahan has been at the forefront of golf’s efforts to regain a semblance of normalcy and has put in place tight controls, which were reinforced after Brooks Koepka and his brother, Chase; last week’s RBC Heritage winner Webb Simpson; Cameron Champ and Graeme McDowell withdrew from the Travellers.
Of the five, only Champ had tested positive for the virus. So did Koepka Senior and McDowell’s caddies, leading the players to pull out as a precaution.
According to the PGA Tour website, seven of the 2,757 total tournament tests (including the Korn Ferry Tour) in the first three weeks have come back positive. Safety though, is the top oriority.
“It’s a low number on a percentage basis,” Monahan said. “But every number hurts.”
Monahan also announced further measures to strengthen the “bubble” and mitigate the risk of positive tests, and also ruled out any thoughts of halting play as of now.
The new steps include:
• Those travelling on the Tour-procured charter will be subject to arrival testing procedures (nasal swab), in addition to the pre-charter test.
• Player instructors have been added to the on-site testing protocol.
• From with next week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, the Tour-sponsored fitness trailer will be on site in an effort to further control the environment where players interact.
“One of the things that we’ve identified or we want to eliminate is players going to off-site gyms,” Monahan told reporters.
“Having our physio trailers here will help that. All of our players entering those physio trailers will be wearing masks.
“All of us have an extraordinary responsibility to follow those protocols. For any individual that does not, there will be serious repercussions,” he added.
Justin Thomas said avoiding fist-bumps and other forms of contact had been a hard habit to break.
“We have to get better at that,” he said. “That’s something that’s unacceptable, and I’m guilty just as much, and once I kind of figured out I was doing it at Colonial tried to stop and got better at it last week and will continue to do so.”
“We’ve learned a lot,” Monahan said. “We are continuing to refine. … It’s all about trying to live in this world and be able to sustain your return in a world of Covid-19.”
Also read: Corona-virus breaks through at PGA Tour despite safety protocols
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