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Sports FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2020 30
AP - Three players who have tested
positive for the coronavirus but are
no longer symptomatic will play
together at the Workday Charity
Open, the PGA Tour announced on
Wednesday in the latest revision of
its COVID19 policies.
Nick Watney — the ƒirst tour
player to test positive — will play
alongside Dylan Frittelli and Denny
McCarthy during the ƒirst two rounds
at Muirƒield Village in Dublin, Ohio,
the tour said.
All three players continue to test
positive for the virus but have met
the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
criteria for returning to work, the tour
said. Players in those circumstances
will either be grouped together or
play as singles. They will also have
no access to indoor facilities at the
tournament site.
Watney reported mild symptoms
after he tested positive before the
RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, South
Carolina. He self-isolated for 10
days before driving back home to
Austin, Texas.
Frittelli testedpositive aftermissing
the cut at the Travellers Championship
in Cromwell, Connecticut. McCarthy
tested positive after the ƒirst round of
the Travellers.
The tour said it made the change
because players can continue to test
positive even after the infectious virus
is no longer present and they havemet
all other CDC criteria. Those include:
no fever for at least three days,
improvement in respiratory symptoms
and a period of at least 10 days since
symptoms ƒirst appeared.
Last week, the tour allowed players
and caddies to return if a positive test
is followed by two negative tests at
least 24 hours apart and they show
no symptoms. That change allowed
Cameron Champ to play at the Rocket
Mortgage Classic in Detroit, where he
ƒinished in a tie for 12 th.
Nick Watney. PHOTO: AP
PGA Tour players
grouped together
after virus recovery
SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA (AP) —
Ferrari is under pressure after
just one race of the Formula
One season and scrambling
to push through aerodynamic
imp r ovemen t s i n t ime fo r
Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix.
Instead of closing the gap to
front-runner Mercedes this season,
Ferrari’s SF1000 car looks slower
than last year and is also in danger
of slipping behind other teams.
“The SF1000 didn’t measure up,
even compared to expectations,”
was Ferrari’s blunt assessment.
Ferrari failed in qualifying at the
season-opening Austrian Grand
Prix, with Charles Leclerc only
seventh — having taken the most
pole positions in 2019 — and
Sebastian Vettel a dismal 11th.
Leclerc’s second-place ƒinish
in that race was more about his
composure amid crashes than the
car’s speed.
Vettel, who ƒinished 10th , was
so irked about lack of balance he
called the car undriveable.
It means that Ferrari team
principal Mattia Binotto is facing
increasing pressure, given that
the team was already way behind
Mercedes in the drivers’ and
constructors’ titles in 2019.
His decision making also faced
scrutiny after a sudden change of
strategy, three days before the ƒirst
practice session in Austria.
He announced a different
direction in terms of aerodynamic
development, which effectively
meant there could not be any car
upgrades until the third race in
Hungary next week.
But then hierarchy intervened.
Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri
felt it was necessary to stop
slipping back further and some
of the aerodynamic package —
scheduled for Hungary —will be
introduced in Austria.
“This is certainly not the grid
position that a team like Ferrari
should have and we have to
respond immediately,” Camilleri
Pressure mounting
on Ferrari after one
race of F1 season
said. “It’s clear that we have to
improve on all fronts.”
This weekend’s race is the
second of eight races during a
hectic 10-week European swing.
The GP itself is changing
names yet is still being held at
the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg
— surrounded by the Styrian
mountains it is now being named
after. Different name, same
objective for Red Bull driver
Alexander Albon.
While Lando Norris secured his
ƒirst career podium last weekend
— the youngest British driver ever
to do so in F1 at the age of 20 —
Albon narrowly missed out on a
ƒirst podium for the second time
in three races.
Both times Hamilton was
directly involved.
With a few laps left last Sunday
it was Albon was on better tires
than Hamilton and his Mercedes
teammate Valtteri Bottas, whowon
the race.
Albon made a hasty but clean
move on the outside Hamilton,
who appeared to slightly nudge
his car left against Albon’s passing
wheel. Albon span off track while
Hamilton was given a ƒive-second
time penalty, moving him from
second to fourth.
Last November in Brazil, in
the penultimate race of 2019,
they chased second place on the
second-last lap. Hamilton tried
to pass Albon on the inside and
clipped his car, sending Albon
spinning down to 14 th.
Albon was frustrated after
last Sunday’s race, which proved
doubly disheartening for Red Bull
as Max Verstappen retired early
when in second place.
But team principal Christian
Horner sees cause for optimism.
“I believe the potential is there
to ƒight Mercedes. Perhaps not over
a single lap but over the course of
the season,” he said. “Our race pace
looked pretty decent with Max and
Alex, so I think we’ve got the basis
of a good car.”
It remains uncertain whether
drivers will again take the knee
in support of racial equality on
Sunday. Hamilton wore a Black
Lives Matter T-shirt last time, when
14 of the 20 drivers took the knee.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany steers his car followed
by Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi of Italy during the Austrian
Formula One Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring racetrack in Spielberg,
Austria. PHOTO: AP
Rahm can pass McIlroy for World Number 1
with PGA victory
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Spain’s
second-ranked Jon Rahm can
ove r t ake Ro r y Mc I l roy and
become world number one for
the ƒirst time with a victory at this
week’s United States (US) PGA
Workday Charity Open.
The 25-year-old Spaniard
tees off yesterday alongside
reigning US Open champion Gary
Woodland and Norway’s Viktor
Hovland at Muirƒield Village in the
opening round.
Four-time major champion
McIlroy of Northern Ireland
has topped the rankings since
February, just before the start of
a three-month hiatus due to the
global coronavirus pandemic.
But with McIlroy idle this week
ahead of next week’s Memorial
tournament over the same mid-
Ohio layout, Rahm has a chance
to swipe the top spot with a victory
in the new event, created to ƒill a
gap in the schedule after the John
Deere Classic was called off due to
COVID19 issues.
Rahm credits his willingness
to ƒight for every shot as a reason
his results have been consistent
enough to give him a chance to
reach the top.
Jon Rahm. PHOTO: AP