Danny Willett out of The Players Championship after positive coronavirus test
Englishman Danny Willett to miss The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and has been replaced by Kramer Hickok as he is forced to self-isolate; watch the tournament live on Sky Sports The Players this week
Tuesday 9 March 2021 21:01, UK
Danny Willett has withdrawn from The Players Championship after testing positive for Covid-19.
The 33-year-old Englishman will now have to self-isolate for a period of 10 days.
He has been replaced in the field at TPC Sawgrass by American Kramer Hickok, the first alternate, who will play alongside Patton Kizzire and Jason Dufner in the opening two rounds.
World No 69 Willett, who has failed to make the cut in his five appearances in the tournament, was in action in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill last week where he tied for 31st place.
He should be back in action for The Masters, which he won in 2016, with the first major of the year starting on April 5.
A PGA Tour statement read: "PGA Tour member Danny Willett has withdrawn from The Players Championship after testing positive for Covid-19.
"Willett will have the PGA Tour's full support throughout his self-isolation period under CDC (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines."
Monahan: Testing to continue
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan had earlier confirmed the testing of players would continue for the foreseeable future, but he is hopeful the vaccination of players will eventually render it redundant.
He said: "Like we've done every step of the way, we're going to rely on CDC guidance, and our programs are going to be subject to the approval of our partners in every community where we play.
"I think as players become vaccinated, as our constituents become vaccinated - we're hopeful that everybody will - but we will continue to provide testing for the foreseeable future, and hopefully, as we get to a high percentage of our players that have been vaccinated, we can start to pull back from the program that we know it as of today.
"It's hard to determine when that will be, but clearly we see light at the end of the tunnel, and the conversations we're having with players and with everybody in our ecosystem have been very positive. I think players are eager to get vaccinated and are certainly studying this."
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