Sergio Garcia was disheartened by Nick Watney becoming the first PGA Tour player to test positive for coronavirus.
“I felt terrible for Nick because he’s probably one of the nicest guys on Tour,” Garcia said Saturday, according to Golf Digest. “Unfortunately, it had to happen to him. So there’s a lot of other people that probably deserved it a lot more than him, and he’s the one that got it.”
Watney, 39, had to withdraw after the first round of the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head after testing positive. He must self-isolate for 10 days, per the Tour’s safety guidelines.
The 40-year-old Garcia was worried because Watney rode with him on his private jet from Colonial in Fort Worth to the Heritage, and both tested negative for COVID-19 upon arrival. Garcia has since tested negative again.
“I was a little bit afraid because, obviously, we knew—I gave him a ride on Tuesday, but when we landed on Tuesday, we got tested. We were both negative. So it was all good,” Garcia told Golf Digest. “Then I was surprised to hear that he tested positive two days, three days later. Obviously, I got my test done yesterday, and I was negative. But it was about 4 1/2 hours of waiting, very anxiously, hoping that it was negative because, obviously, after missing the cut last week by one and this week finally playing nicely in the second round and being in the middle of the pack, if I would have given positive, then I wouldn’t be able to play on the weekend, and I would have been very, very disappointed.
“Nick is unbelievable. He’s a good friend. He was very worried about me. He sent me several texts. I talked to him. He must have said sorry to me probably 25 times.”