Sergio Garcia, the 40-year-old Spaniard who won the 2017 Masters, will not compete in the 2020 Masters this week at Augusta National.
Garcia on Monday withdrew after testing positive for COVID-19. Augusta National made the announcement and Garcia posted a message on his Twitter account.
Garcia, who was coming off a missed cut last week at the Vivint Houston Open, said after arriving home to Austin, Texas on Saturday he began experiencing symptoms with a sore throat and cough. He said he is the only member of his family to test positive.
“After 21 years of not missing a major championship, I will sadly miss the Masters this week,” Garcia said on Twitter. “The important thing is that my family and I are feeling good. We’ll come back stronger and give the green jacket a go next April.”
This is the first major championship Garcia has missed since the 1999 U.S. Open. Adam Scott, with 76 consecutive majors played, now has the longest active streak.
“On Saturday night when I got back from Houston, I started to notice an itchy throat and a slight cough,’’ Garcia said on Twitter. “These symptoms continued with me on Sunday, so I decided to get tested for COVID-19, as did my wife Angela. Fortunately, she tested negative but I did not.”
Garcia, now ranked 40th in the world, played with Tony Finau and Brian Gay during the first two rounds of the Vivint Houston Open. The Houston tournament was the first on the PGA Tour to allow fans on-site, with about 2,000 per day allowed at Memorial Park Golf Course.
He won the Sanderson Farms Championship in the fall, his first PGA Tour title since winning the 2017 Masters. Garcia, though, has missed the cut in each of his past two Masters.
He’s the second player to have withdrawn from this Masters because of the virus. Joaquin Niemann pulled out last week following a positive test result. Garcia will not be replaced in the Masters field, which is now at 92 players.
Adam Scott on Monday spoke about testing positive for COVID-19 several weeks ago, saying getting the news was “terrible’’ and his reaction was “surprise.’’
“At time I had no symptoms,’’ he said. “So, of course I was surprised. My symptoms developed about 12 hours after I tested, but they were very mild and only lasted for 24 hours. So in that respect, I was pretty lucky. I didn’t have a bad dose, and within 48 hours I was feeling OK.
“The silver lining for myself — and I was talking about it with Dustin [Johnson, who also recently tested positive] — is we got it at a time where it meant we weren’t going to miss the Masters,’’ Scott went on. “But it seems like almost one guy a week, or maybe just a bit more, test positive, and there’s going to be a couple here.
“I feel for Joaquin. I know he’s played here before as an amateur, but maybe it was his first go as a professional. And certainly for Sergio, a past champion, it’s got to be tough to miss out. I hope they are both just feeling OK, nothing serious.’’
