Jon Rahm tests positive and must leave a tournament when he was leader

From heaven to hell in a second. Jon Rahm signed an anthological round of eight shots under par this Saturday at the Memorial Tournament, the tournament organized by the legendary Jack Nicklaus, to take the lead with -18, six ahead of Morikawa and Cantlay in the absence of a matchday, that of this Sunday, which seemed to be pending to revalidate the title that he already won last year. And suddenly, everything fell apart. After congratulating his teammates and the

with whom he shared a round, a member of the organization approached him, even before handing over the card, and told him that he had tested positive for covid and that he should immediately leave the tournament . Rahm put his hands to his head and a few minutes later his name was no longer at the top of the rankings.

Jon Rahm ... with a 6 shot lead at Memorial ... finds out AFTER HIS ROUND that he's tested positive for COVID-19.

That means he has to withdraw.

As the leader by 6 ...

Just unbelievable.

pic.twitter.com/AqtqNA75kH

- TJ Eckert (@TJEckertKTUL) June 5, 2021

The mess is considerable not only for Jon Rahm, who will now have to be in quarantine until June 15 and therefore will have very fair to arrive at the US Open, the second big of the season, which is held from June 17 to 20, but for the American circuit (PGA Tour), which has seen how one of its great stars, the number three in the world, has to leave a tournament when he was leader after the third day and after having shared a round (without a mask and without any special measure of distancing) with other players, Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler, for hours. Both golfers, curiously, had already passed the covid. Rahm, in addition, had to play this Saturday the five holes that he had left to play on the second day (the day was delayed due to the rain of the previous day) and the entire round on Saturday itself.A small marathon that embroidered in his game, with wonderful shots from the street and a tremendous success with the

and that it brought him closer to repeating a triumph that last year was historic. With his victory in 2020, Rahm rose to number one in world golf.

The PGA Tour then explained that this past Monday, May 31, Jon Rahm was informed that he had been in contact with a person who had tested positive. They then gave him the option of playing the tournament, being subjected to daily controls and a special sanitary protocol with restrictions on access to internal areas. Rahm, asymptomatic, tested negative in the first tests until this Saturday he tested positive at the end of the second round and just before the third began. The test was repeated and returned positive, so two representatives of the medical body informed Rahm of the situation at the end of his day. The PGA recalled in a statement that since the return of golf, 50 tournaments have been played on the American circuit and that there have only been four positives, including that of Jon Rahm, the only asymptomatic.

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