Rested Jon Rahm explains ‘unfortunate’ COVID situation that cost him Olympics

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – By now, it’s the uncertainty of it all that bothers Jon Rahm.

Initially, it was the shock of another positive COVID-19 test and his inability to represent Spain in the Olympics that hurt the most. But now it’s all the unknowns that haunt him.

“This was a little harder to digest than Memorial, because I’ve done everything the system tells me to do,” said Rahm, who was forced to withdraw from the Memorial in June with a six-stroke lead through three rounds after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Rahm, who is making his first start since The Open at this week’s Northern Trust, was poised to travel to Tokyo for the Summer Games. There were negative COVID-19 tests on Thursday (July 22) and again Friday (July 23), but his test on Saturday (July 24) came back positive. Despite two additional negative tests, and an antibody test, he was unable to travel to Japan.

Full-field tee times from The Northern Trust

“I can’t really explain what in the world happened. I don’t know if it’s false positives or just what I had left over from when I had COVID, just dead cells that were in there that we all know can happen,” said Rahm, who noted that under the PGA Tour’s COVID-19 protocols he no longer has to be tested. “It really is unfortunate. It sucked because I wanted to represent Spain.”

The silver lining for Rahm is that he’s as rested as anyone in the field at this week’s playoff opener and at fifth on the FedExCup points list he’s poised to make a post-season run.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get a chance to have four weeks off in the middle of the summer and have some time to enjoy with my family,” he said. “We’re gone so often that I know I’m going to miss a lot of things, and I’m going to take advantage of times I get to be home, and that’s what I did.”