World No 1 Rory McIlroy says he spent time with Nick Watney on the putting green prior to his second round at the RBC Heritage on Friday.
Watney withdrew from the event following his opening round, having tested positive for Covid-19 after displaying symptoms on Thursday.
Watney tests positive for coronavirus
The American, though, was at Hilton Head on Friday morning after receiving the news and interacted with McIlroy, albeit from a safe distance.
‘He was just saying, “Look, I hope I didn’t get too close to you.” He feels badly that he was here today at the golf course. I said, look, it’s fine. You never know.
‘So, I said to him, “If I was in your position, I probably would have been here too. Look, at this point, you just have to concentrate on getting better and getting healthy,'” said the Northern Irishman.
The PGA Tour will now trace Watney’s recent movements to see if he had come into contact with anyone else.
Despite the risk involved with this incident, McIlroy maintains he feels safe under the tour’s protocols and health guidelines.
‘Look, we’re still in the middle of a pandemic. Until this thing’s over, we all just have to stay vigilant and keep your distance and wear our masks if we’re going out in public and keep washing our hands.
‘To think that us on the PGA Tour, none of us were going to get it was very … I don’t think anyone thought that.
‘I think the consensus was someone is going to get it at some point, and Nick’s the one that’s got it, and he’s self-isolating and doing what he has to do,’ he added.
McIlroy will start his third round at the RBC Heritage in T45 and on six under par, following an excellent round on Friday.
He is still seven shots behind leader Webb Simpson, who is on 12 under.
