Zach Johnson tests positive for COVID-19, withdraws from Open Championship

Zach Johnson withdrew from this week’s Open Championship after learning Sunday he had tested positive for COVID-19.

Johnson had been scheduled to be on the John Deere Classic’s chartered flight to England from Moline, Ill., Sunday night. He finished play at the JDC Sunday afternoon.

“I am disappointed to announce that I have tested positive for COVID-19 and will have to withdraw from the 2021 Open Championship,” Johnson tweeted Monday at 9 a.m. (CT). “I look forward to returning to St. Andrews next year, a place where I have such wonderful memories. Good luck to all the competitors.”

Twitter

There has been no comment on whether he had been vaccinated for the virus.

“We have spoken to Zach and although under the weather, he is doing well,” sponsors of the Zach Johnson Foundation Classic were told via email.

The 10th-annual event is scheduled for July 25-26. Unlike in past years, the pro-am portion of the event at Elmcrest Country Club is open to sponsors only, citing public health recommendations.

The annual event benefits Kids on Course, the foundation’s nonprofit program in cooperation with the Cedar Rapids Community School District. The program provides tutoring, enrichment, parent-engagement strategies and health supports to put students on course to graduate college.

Johnson won the Open Championship in 2015 at St. Andrews, the 12th of his 12 career PGA Tour victories and his second major championship. This year’s Open is at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England.

Johnson, 45, told people after his final round of play at TPC Deere in Silvis, Ill., that he didn’t feel well. Instead of answering reporters’ questions as is typically the case with him at the JDC, he went straight to the clubhouse after signing his scorecard and bidding farewell to family members.

Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, withdrew from the Open Sunday because of COVID-19. Former Masters champ Bubba Watson withdrew because he was exposed to someone with COVID-19.

The PGA Tour announced in late June that it would stop testing vaccinated and non-vaccinated participants starting with its 3M Open that starts July 22. It encouraged players to get vaccinated, but didn’t mandate it.

The Open Championship required participants to test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of travel to the United Kingdom, and again after arriving at Royal St. George’s.

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