Pro golfers to face coronavirus tests, temperature checks when PGA Tour returns in June

Professional golfers will be subject to coronavirus testing and daily temperature checks when the PGA Tour resumes without spectators in June.

The tour is set to resume June 11 at Fort Worth, Texas’s Colonial Country Club after a two-month delay. Players and caddies will be given nasal swab tests for the virus during a pre-travel screening and again upon arriving at event lodging, according to the AFP news agency.

All players and caddies will be subject to temperature checks and health questions upon arrival at the course, with anyone with a temperature above 100.4 tested for the virus again. Golfers awaiting test results will only be able to practice and play while observing social distancing, and will be banned from other course facilities.

The tour will quarantine any player who tests positive for at least 10 days, and any player testing positive after making the 36-hole cut will be paid the prize money they would win for placing last.

“We’re not going to play if we can’t do it in a safe and healthy environment,” PGA Tour chief of operations Tyler Dennis said.

The tour will also include three other spectatorless events, the Heritage, the Travelers Championship and the Rocket Mortgage Championship. The John Deere Classic, scheduled for Sylvis, Ill., from July 9-12, is the first event that could be open to fans.

The tour will also provide disinfectant wipes and face masks and cover testing costs for all players, caddies and essential staff, according to AFP. Players will be responsible for retrieving golf balls from holes and will be encouraged to remove and replace their own clubs from bags. Players will also forgo handshakes at the end of each round, according to AFP.

When to resume scheduled sporting events has been a major concern among various professional leagues since the NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS all suspended their seasons early in the pandemic. MLB owners have reportedly approved a plan that would allow for an early July start to the season.