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Brooks Koepka, the No. 4 player in the world, has reportedly withdrawn from this week’s Travelers Championship after his caddie, Ricky Elliott, tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to Golfweek, Elliott tested positive for the virus on Wednesday morning after testing negative just 48 hours earlier when he arrived at the tournament.
“I’m going to pull out to protect everybody else. I think it’s the right thing to do,” Koepka told Golfweek. “I don’t want to risk anyone’s life if they have respiratory issues or underlying conditions. The only way this Tour can continue is if guys to do this sort of thing and be proactive about it.”
The report notes that Koepka has maintained a strict lockdown for the past three weeks since the Tour started back up. He’s been staying in rented homes with his team and personal chef only leaving the home to go to the golf course and to be tested.
On Tuesday afternoon the Tour announced that Cameron Champ had withdrawn from the tournament after becoming the second PGA Tour member to test positive for the coronavirus. Nick Watney tested positive prior to the second round of last week’s RBC Heritage in Hilton Head.
It has also been reported that Graeme McDowell withdrew from this week’s tournament in Connecticut after his caddie tested positive for the virus. McDowell confirmed to Golfweek that he tested negative for the virus again on Wednesday morning.
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Mark is an associate editor at BroBible. Follow him on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris for the occasional good tweet. Feel free to contact him at Mark@BroBible.com.