Harris English The Fifth Player To Test COVID-19 Positive

Harris English didn’t compete last week at The Travelers.

He was planning on showing up this week in Detroit for The Rocket Mortgage.

But that won’t happen as Harris is now the fifth PGA Tour player to test positive for COVID-19.  First it was Nick Watney followed by Cameron Champ then Denny McCarthy and Dylan Fritelli.

The Tour dropped that info on Monday and English drafted a scripted reaction:

“I feel healthy,” English said. “I’m pleased that the new safety protocols we have in place worked this week. I fully support the Tour’s new rule of not allowing anyone on the tournament grounds until testing negative, as protecting others in the field and everyone affiliated with the tournament and the community should be the No. 1 priority as a result of a positive test.  I appreciate the Tour’s support and I look forward to competing again after I’m fully recovered.”

The Tour didn’t say where Harris was when he tested positive.  Hopefully he was still at home back on Sea Island.  If he had already ventured to Detroit, well, $100,000 doesn’t sound like enough money to make someone self-quaratine in that city for 10 days.

Speaking of self quarantine, Nick Watney, the Tour’s first player to test positive, is almost done with his isolation at Hilton Head.

‘I will say, it’s not the greatest feeling being the first to get it,” Watney said last week.

”Some things are so vague around this thing,” he said. ”The symptoms — some people get this, some get that. I haven’t had a fever or cough the whole time, no shortness of breath. Maybe that’s the reason it’s so scary. I still don’t know how or where I got it.”

Watney said he lost his sense of smell, a sensation he described as ”gnarly,” but said that is coming back.

Worst of all, he’s tired of doing nothing.  ”Very, very boring,” he said. ”Being on the road and not playing golf is a weird feeling.”

DeChambeau The Favorite At Rocket Mortgage:

Perhaps it is time for Bryson DeChambeau to prove that the long ball can produce victory as opposed to top 10 finishes.

DeChambeau, who has been hitting prodigious tee shots since the PGA Tour’s re-start, has finished in the top 10 in all three events since the PGA Tour came back.

With most of the top players in the world rankings taking the week off, DeChambeau, who is now 10th in the world, is the name most mentioned to step into the winner’s circle this week.