Tiger Woods says contracting COVID is a ‘risk he’s willing to take’ as he returns to Tour

BY AAGD STAFF | July 15, 2020

This week in Dublin, Ohio, an outlying suburb of Columbus, the Memorial Tournament will be played. Among the golf pros will be Tiger Woods. The Jupiter Island resident had been laying low since complaining of back pain several months ago. Now, he says that his back is fine and he’s healthy, so Woods is heading back into the field for more competition.

It will be Woods’ first tournament since the Genesis Invitational back in February. Woods has been sitting out, if you will, and quarantining since the restart of the PGA Tour season back in June because he’s been putting his health first.

Tuesday at Dublin’s Muirfield Village the 5-time Memorial Tournament winner says he likes the way the tour has handled the last few tournaments with Covid-19 precautions in place and player and staff testing. Founded in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus, the Memorial Tournament this year will be played July 16-19, without spectators. The purse is $9,300,000. Tee times will start on Thursday, July 16. You can find full first round tee times for Thursday at the bottom of this post.

At this year’s Memorial, tournament organizers have decided to pack star players and fan favorites in star-studded groupings. The leader of the pack is the trio of Tiger, Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka.

“The screening, the testing that we’ve done, the protections that we’ve tried to implement on the tour have shown that we’ve had to make adjustments but it’s a risk that I’m willing to take,” said Woods on Tuesday.

In Dublin, masks are mandatory.

Dublin is located in the counties of Franklin, Delaware, and Union. In Ohio, the coronavirus has infected a total number of 67996 individuals, as yesterday it had 1142 more confirmed cases based on media reports and official stats. The pandemic has claimed the lives of 3069 people statewide, after 5 patients passed away yesterday; while 7358 patients are recovered. The current count of cases in the United States is 3,510,566, citing different sources; with 3,510,561 cases officially confirmed.

Delaware: 21 new cases, 784 in total
Franklin: 273 new cases, 12574 in total
Union: 4 new cases, 119 in total

RELATED: PGA Tour, Sanford Health partner for COVID-19 testing at tournaments

Ohio State’s pause on voluntary workouts also came to an end. After going through another round of COVID-19 testing on Monday in which all athletes participating in voluntary workouts were tested, Ohio State turned on the green light for voluntary workouts to resume for seven sports teams – football, men’s and women’s basketball, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball – to resume voluntary workouts.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine canceled a scheduled press conference yesterday, but has since announced a planned address for today (Wednesday). DeWine’s press secretary Dan Tierney told FOX 8 people can expect to hear the governor speak about the current state of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thursday Tee Times (all times EDT)

Tee No. 1

7 a.m. — Tom Hoge, Sepp Straka, Xinjun Zhang

7:11 a.m. — Luke List, Alex Noren, Matthew Fitzpatrick

7:22 a.m. — Brendan Steele, Scottie Scheffler, Matt Wallace

7:33 a.m. — Nate Lashley, Sung Kang, Kevin Kisner

7:44 a.m. — Joaquin Niemann, Bubba Watson, Scott Piercy

7:55 a.m. — Matthew Wolff, Stewart Cink, Abraham Ancer

8:06 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Charles Howell III, Troy Merritt

8:17 a.m. — Patrick Reed, Sebastián Muñoz, Keith Mitchell

8:28 a.m. — Jim Herman, Kevin Streelman, Vijay Singh

8:39 a.m. — C.T. Pan, Brandt Snedeker, Vaughn Taylor

8:50 a.m. — Bernd Wiesberger, Jason Scrivener, Haotong Li

12 noon — Rafa Cabrera Bello, Harold Varner III, Doc Redman

12:11 p.m. — Brian Stuard, Maverick McNealy, Scott Harrington

12:22 p.m. — Emiliano Grillo, Joel Dahmen, Henrik Norlander

12:33 p.m. — Paul Casey, Jimmy Walker, Ernie Els

12:44 p.m. — Webb Simpson, Gary Woodland, Billy Horschel

12:55 p.m. — Jon Rahm, Serigo Garcia, Tony Finau

1:06 p.m. — Shane Lowry, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose

1:17 p.m. — Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka

1:28 p.m. — Daniel Berger, Kevin Tway, Jason Dufner

1:39 p.m. — Charl Schwartzel, Talor Gooch, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

1:50 p.m. — Andy Ogletree (a), Peter Kuest

2:01 p.m. — Dylan Frittelli, Graeme McDowell

Tee No. 10

7 a.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Byeong Hun An, Carlos Ortiz

7:11 a.m. — K.J. Choi, Mark Hubbard, Wyndham Clark

7:22 a.m. — Ryan Moore, Branden Grace, Zac Blair

7:33 a.m. — Max Homa, Keegan Bradley, Danny Willett

7:44 a.m. –Andrew Landry, Cameron Champ, Jordan Spieth

7:55 a.m. –Viktor Hovland, Ian Poulter, Hideki Matsuyama

8:06 a.m. –Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay

8:17 a.m. — Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele

8:28 a.m. — J.T. Poston, Jason Day, William McGirt

8:39 a.m. — David Lingmerth, Patrick Rodgers, Harry Higgs

8:50 a.m. — Carl Pettersson, Bo Hoag, Matthias Schwab

12 noon — Danny Lee, Rory Sabbatini, Matthew NeSmith

12:11 p.m. — Mackenzie Hughes, Bud Cauley, Erik van Rooyen

12:22 p.m. — Lucas Glover, Jason Kokrak, Victor Perez

12:33 p.m. — Sungjae Im, Marc Leishman, Si Woo Kim

12:44 p.m. — Lanto Griffin, Kevin Na, Matt Kuchar

12:55 p.m. — Tyler Duncan, Ryan Palmer, Steve Stricker

1:06 p.m. — Brendon Todd, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson

1:17 p.m. — Chez Reavie, Andrew Putnam, Jim Furyk

1:28 p.m. — Nick Taylor, Corey Conners, Adam Long

1:39 p.m. — Brian Harman, Adam Hadwin, Jazz Janewattananond

1:50 p.m. — Harris English, Denny McCarthy

Friday Tee Times (all times EDT)

Tee No. 1

7 a.m. — Danny Lee, Rory Sabbatini, Matthew NeSmith

7:11 a.m. — Mackenzie Hughes, Bud Cauley, Erik van Rooyen

7:22 a.m. — Lucas Glover, Jason Kokrak, Victor Perez

7:33 a.m. — Sungjae Im, Marc Leishman, Si Woo Kim

7:44 a.m. — Lanto Griffin, Kevin Na, Matt Kuchar

7:55 a.m. — Tyler Duncan, Ryan Palmer, Steve Stricker

8:06 a.m. — Brendon Todd, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson

8:17 a.m. — Chez Reavie, Andrew Putnam, Jim Furyk

8:28 a.m. — Nick Taylor, Corey Conners, Adam Long

8:39 a.m. — Brian Harman, Adam Hadwin, Jazz Janewattananond

8:50 a.m. — Harris English, Denny McCarthy

12 noon — Louis Oosthuizen, Byeong Hun An, Carlos Ortiz

12:11 p.m. — K.J. Choi, Mark Hubbard, Wyndham Clark

12:22 p.m. — Ryan Moore, Branden Grace, Zac Blair

12:33 p.m. — Max Homa, Keegan Bradley, Danny Willett

12:44 p.m. — Andrew Landry, Cameron Champ, Jordan Spieth

12:55 p.m. — Viktor Hovland, Ian Poulter, Hideki Matsuyama

1:06 p.m. – Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay

1:17 p.m. — Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele

1:28 p.m. — J.T. Poston, Jason Day, William McGirt

1:39 p.m. — David Lingmerth, Patrick Rodgers, Harry Higgs

1:50 p.m. — Carl Pettersson, Bo Hoag, Matthias Schwab

Tee No. 10

7 a.m. — Rafa Cabrera Bello, Harold Varner III, Doc Redman

7:11 a.m. — Brian Stuard, Maverick McNealy, Scott Harrington

7:22 a.m. — Emiliano Grillo, Joel Dahmen, Henrik Norlander

7:33 a.m. — Paul Casey, Jimmy Walker, Ernie Els

7:44 a.m. — Webb Simpson, Gary Woodland, Billy Horschel

7:55 a.m. — Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Tony Finau

8:06 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose

8:17 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka

8:28 a.m. — Daniel Berger, Kevin Tway, Jason Dufner

8:39 a.m. — Charl Schwartzel, Talor Gooch, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

8:50 a.m. — Andy Ogletree (a), Peter Kuest

9:01 a.m. — Dylan Frittelli, Graeme McDowell

12 noon — Tom Hoge, Sepp Straka, Xinjun Zhang

12:11 p.m. — Luke List, Alex Noren, Matthew Fitzpatrick

12:22 p.m. — Brendan Steele, Scottie Scheffler, Matt Wallace

12:33 p.m. — Nate Lashley, Sung Kang, Kevin Kisner

12:44 p.m. — Joaquin Niemann, Bubba Watson, Scott Piercy

12:55 p.m. — Matthew Wolff, Stewart Cink, Abraham Ancer

1:06 p.m. — Cameron Smith, Charles Howell III, Troy Merritt

1:17 p.m. — Patrick Reed, Sebastián Muñoz, Keith Mitchell

1:28 p.m. — Jim Herman, Kevin Streelman, Vijay Singh

1:39 p.m. — C.T. Pan, Brandt Snedeker, Vaughn Taylor

1:50 p.m. — Bernd Wiesberger, Jason Scrivener, Haotong Li