HILTON HEAD (South Carolina) • The PGA Tour on Saturday said 11 people tested negative for the coronavirus, a day after American Nick Watney was forced to withdraw from the RBC Heritage tournament following his positive test.

The Tour added it had conducted follow-up tests after contact tracing for anyone who had been in close contact with the world No. 234.

That included tests for his playing partners in the first two rounds, Vaughn Taylor and Luke List, who missed the cut last Friday at Harbour Town.

His caddie, Tony Navarro, and another caddie, Don Gadberry, who works for Brendon Todd but was staying in the same house as Navarro, both tested negative for the Covid-19 disease. But they are self-quarantining as well, according to the Golf Channel.

Watney was the first player to test positive for the virus since the Tour returned from a three-month shutdown on June 11 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.

The US Centres for Disease Control guidelines dictate the contact tracing tests as well as 10-day self-quarantine period after any positive test and the Tour is sticking to those measures. Watney will not be allowed to compete until he comes up negative in additional tests.

Since its resumption, the Tour has conducted almost 1,000 tests before and during the Charles Schwab Challenge and the RBC Heritage event, which ended yesterday.

Going into the final round on Hilton Head Island, there was a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard. Webb Simpson (three-under 68), Tyrrell Hatton (63), Abraham Ancer (65) and Ryan Palmer (66) were tied on 15-under 198.

Officials for the June 25-28 Travelers Championship in Hartford, Connecticut are planning to expand the testing to include volunteers and members of the media.

The July 16-19 Memorial at Muirfield in Dublin, Ohio is set to be the first tournament to have a gallery.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NYTIMES