The PGA Tour began requiring COVID-19 tests more than a year ago when it returned to competition amid the pandemic. It will have overseen testing at 50 official PGA Tour events when the program ends next month.
"We are pleased to announce, after consultation with the PGA Tour medical advisers, that due to the high rate of vaccination among all constituents on the PGA Tour as well as other positively trending factors across the country, testing for COVID-19 will no longer be required as a condition of competition beginning with the 3M Open," the tour said in a memo to players.
The final PGA Tour event for testing — not including the majors — will be the Barbasol Championship on July 15-18.
Andy Levinson, the tour’s senior vice president overseeing the COVID-19 protocols, had said at the Memorial that "north of 50%" of players had been vaccinated. That number is believed to be upward of 75% of all key people who had been subject to testing.
Under the new guidelines, the tour will no longer have testing at tournaments, including for pro-ams, or the stipend program that paid players who had to withdraw and self-isolate because of a positive test.
Those who are fully vaccinated will not be required to wear masks indoors and will not have to quarantine if they have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19. They still must fill out a daily health questionnaire and report any symptoms.
Those who are not vaccinated are encouraged to wear a mask indoors and outdoors if they cannot be socially distant. If they are in contact with someone who has COVID-19, they would have to follow contact tracing protocols.
State and local restrictions still apply, and the tour said it could conduct periodic testing if the state in which they play requires it.
The tour said it would provide testing at tournaments for those who have symptoms, and a positive test still would lead to a player withdrawing. Since the program began last June, at least 35 had to withdraw with a positive test, four of them in the middle of a tournament.
The most memorable was Jon Rahm, who was notified of his positive test right after he took a six-shot lead in the Memorial. He won the U.S. Open two weeks later.
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