Dustin Johnson is missing from two tournaments due to testing positive for COVID-19. After dealing with coronaviruses, quarantining in a hotel for 11 days and practicing only last week, the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world received a silver lining.
Johnson said Wednesday during a pre-tournament interview for this week’s Vivint Houston Open that the only good thing I know is that I’m playing at the Masters next week.
Johnson, who last played at the US Open in September, planned to play the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas and then play the Jojo Championship in Sherwood.
But he tested positive in Las Vegas after feeling the symptoms, forcing him to miss frequent events. Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer considers him contagious, Johnson was not required to take the COVID-19 test this week and would not be required to do so in advance of the Masters.
“I’ll definitely be nervous,” Johnson said of the players testing before the Masters to play in the tournament. “It’s one of those things where, because I had no idea where I got it from, obviously I thought about it and tried to find out.
“I had everyone who was around me – people living in my house, anyone I came in contact with, my friends, family, people working for me – every one of them was tested. Not polina [Gretzky, his partner], Children, not everyone, had one person.
“The only thing I can understand is that I’m getting it by bus in Vegas – I don’t even know how I got there, but it’s the only place I could find it because there wasn’t one person The one I had. And nobody got it from me. “
Johnson originally tested negative when he arrived in Las Vegas on October 11. But later that day, he began to feel symptoms, retired and was positive. This means they had to withdraw from the CJ Cup and quarantine for 11 days – at the expense of the PGA Tour.
“I felt like I had a cold for a few days, and then after that I didn’t, so I was a lot more asymptomatic,” Johnson said. “A little fatigue and things like that, but I couldn’t really figure out if it was because I was stuck in a hotel room for 11 days doing nothing or it was COVID that made me feel like this . I did not do that.” Leave the room for 11 days. I was just laying around, doing nothing.
“It was one of those things that I loved, like waiting to get sick because you know you have it and you’re sitting there. But for me it was too light, and obviously I was for it. I am very grateful
“It definitely puts a gap in your plans for what you were trying to do. Obviously I was planning to play Shadow Creek and Sherwood, those two events. I had more than I planned There was too much time. “
Johnson said he did not start hitting balls again until last week. Prior to the illness, he was one of the hottest players in the world.
He has won two regular schedule and tour championships since golf’s return in June and has six top-six finishers in his last nine games. He finished sixth in his final appearance at the US Open.
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