On Sunday legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus revealed during the CBS telecast of the Memorial tournament that he and his wife Barbara had tested positive for the coronavirus back in March and had self isolated in their North Palm Beach, Florida home from March 13th until April 20th. “It didn’t last very long, and we were very, very fortunate, very lucky,” Nicklaus said during CBS’ coverage of the Memorial Tournament. “Barbara and I are both of the age… that is an at-risk age,” Nicklaus continued. “Our hearts go out to the people who did lose their lives and their families. We were just a couple of the lucky ones.”
Nicklaus said that his wife showed no symptoms and he had very mild symptoms of just a sore throat and a cough. At 80 years of age, both Jack and his wife Barbara were fortunate not to have endured more wide spread symptoms of the virus. Nicklaus said by having the antibodies, “theoretically we can’t get it and can’t give it. That’s a nice position to be in.”
The belief among some medical experts is that once you have had coronavirus and develop antibodies you will not get it again. However others are not so sure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a June 30 update, said it does not know if people who recover from COVID-19 can get infected again. The CDC had advised that even with a positive test for antibodies, you should take preventive measures to protect yourself and others.
The Memorial tournament was held without any fans this year. Nicklaus had hoped to have a limited number of fans but with coronavirus numbers rising in Ohio, players and the PGA Tour balked at having fans. Reported sightings of Nicklaus through the week had been rare because of the stringent PGA protocols put in place due to the pandemic. Prior to the final round of the tournament, Nicklaus had made it clear he did not intend to abide by Ohio’s request for social distancing guidelines.
On Tuesday Jack held a remote press conference and said he would shake the hand of whoever wins the Memorial tournament, following a tradition of 45 years that he started at the tournament. He did say if they don’t want to shake his hand, he would give them a fist bump, or elbow bump, but reassured everyone he would not give them Covid-19.
On Sunday Jack stated again on CBS that he would shake hands if the winner wanted to but was fine if they didn’t. Tradition was broken and a new one made when after a moment of indecision, Memorial winner Jon Rahm, gave the legendary golfer with 18 major championships and founder of the Memorial, a fist bump.
“I’ve been dreaming of that handshake many times,” Rahm said. “Well, it was a fist bump because of the situation, but still, how many people can say they got a congratulatory fist bump from Jack Nicklaus?”
A new tradition begins!
Oh Geez Sports 