Pádraig Harrington has been forced out of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament after testing positive for Covid-19, with the 49-year-old Dubliner going into self-isolation as part of the PGA Tour’s protocol.
Europe's Ryder Cup captain has been globe-trotting in recent weeks, playing back-to-back tournaments on the European Tour in Abu Dhabi and Dubai – where he placed sixth behind Paul Casey – before travelling Stateside to play in last week's Phoenix Open, where he missed the cut in an event for the first time since last September.
The PGA Tour’s “bubble” for players competing at events involves daily coronavirus testing and Harirngton’s positive test has seen him go into a period of self-isolation under the USA’s Centre for Disease Control guidelines. He is the fifth player to test positive at on-site testing at tournaments on the PGA Tour so far this year.
A statement issued by the PGA Tour said Harrington would have the tour’s “full support throughout his self-isolation period”.
Harrington had also planned on playing in next week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles but is unlikely to have completed his isolation period in time.
The three-time Major champion has shown some good form of late, most notably that sixth-place finish in Dubai which was his second top-10 finish in seven tournaments since he missed the cut at the DDF Irish Open last September.
South Korea's Sangmoon Bae has replaced Harrington in the tournament, in a field which has already lost world number one Dustin Johnson, who cited jetlag on returning from his win in Saudi Arabia as his reason. Matt Kuchar, Luke List, Carlos Munoz and KH Lee are other players to have withdrawn from the event in recent days, but not due to Covid-19 related issues.
The loss of Johnson means that no player from the world's top-10 will be competing at the iconic Monterey links course, with Patrick Cantlay, ranked 11th, the leading player.
Meanwhile, two Irish players have accepted their invitations to play in the Augusta National Women's Amateur tournament in the week ahead of the Masters tournament. Olivia Mehaffey from Co Down and Julie McCarthy from Dublin, both on scholarships to colleges in the US, have been confirmed for the event.
