Golf: Aussie Adam Scott has tested positive for COVID-19

Aussie Adam Scott will have just one tournament to prepare for the Masters in November after testing positive for COVID-19 and being forced in to isolation.

Adam Scott will have to dodge fans at the one tournament he has left to prepare for the Masters after becoming the latest sports star to test positive for COVID-19.

The world number 15 won’t come out of forced isolation until 12 days before the Masters begins on NOvember 12, leaving just the Houston Open the week before the get his game in order for an Augusta assault.

Scott doesn’t normally play the week before the Masters, which he won in 2013, but had already committed to the Houston OPen this year having played just four times since the PGA Tour resumed in July.

The 40-year-old, who last competed at the US Open in September, was forced to withdraw from the ZOZO Championship in California on Wednesday morning after his positive test was confirmed.

“While it’s difficult news to receive – as I really looked forward to playing this week – my focus now is on recovery for the final stretch of the fall,” Scott said.

Scott was the 13th US PGA Tour player to contract the virus, including world number one Dustin Johsnon, and will have to be tested for the next three months under PGA Tour protcols.

It comes as veteran Phil Michelson said he wasn’t comfortable with the return of fans to tournaments, especially so close to the Masters.

“I think that they will do a very good, safe job in having 2,000 people at the Houston Open. However, for me personally, I don‘t like the risk that having that happen the week before the Masters,” Mickelson said.

“I just feel like the week before the Masters, like that’s a big tournament we have and I just don’t want to have any risk heading in there. So it has made me question whether or not I’ll play there.

Adam Scott has withdrawn from the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD after testing positive for COVID-19. https://t.co/Bn6ta00iUV

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 21, 2020

News of Scott’s test came as the $1 million Vic Open was cancelled, leabing the Australian summer without a tournament after both the Australian Open and PGA were also cancelled.

The tournament was scheduled for February.

“These are disappointing decisions to make, no doubt,” Golf Australia chief executive James Sutherland said.

“We’re very proud of how far the Vic Open came since the mixed concept was put together, and we’re more than aware of how popular this event has become. We’ve tried to make it happen, but the call had to be made.

“We’ve taken advice from the relevant domestic government authorities and looked at the contingencies, including the creation of a ‘bubble’, but they are not viable. It left us in a position where our field strength would have been severely compromised.

“We’re disappointed for golf fans and for all the hundreds of enthusiastic volunteers who have helped make the Vic Open so successful, and we’re disappointed for the players who lose an opportunity to ply their trade.

“However, we will view it as temporary and what we need to do now is to focus on the future of all our events and work towards getting them back better than ever for the summer of 2021/22 and beyond.”

Originally published as Golf: Aussie Adam Scott has tested positive for COVID-19