Over the next two weekends golf fans will have the opportunity to watch two extraordinary tournaments. First, the World Golf Championship-Fed Ex St. Jude Invitational from Memphis, Tennessee, which starts Thursday. Then, the PGA Championship from TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, California.
However, one player who will not be present for those tournaments will be former world number one Lee Westwood of Worksop, England. The reasons why the world number 36 has decided to remain in Europe, where he is currently participating on the European Tour, are completely understandable.
According to sport24, Westwood said the following:
“I’m still concerned that America doesn’t take it as seriously as the rest of the world.” The “it” in Westwood’s quote is coronavirus, and many people would have a hard time disagreeing with Westwood, who is currently ranked second this year in total earnings on the European Tour. It should also be noted that Westwood is partially asthmatic, and does not want to have to stay in Memphis for two weeks if he tests positive at the World Golf Championship.
One must also realize that the best golfers in the world would have to travel from Memphis to San Francisco via an airplane. Last week the Miami Marlins traveled from Atlanta to Philadelphia. According to Jesse Rogers of ESPN, it is possible the initial source of the Marlins’ eventual coronavirus outbreak (which has seen 14 Marlins infected with coronavirus) was the flight.
There have been 4, 434, 185 cases of coronavirus in the United States. There are 2, 145, 726 active cases and 150, 500 deaths. In the state of Tennessee, there have been 96, 489 total cases, 38, 272 active cases and 978 deaths. In the state of California, there have been 466, 825 total cases, 311, 541 active cases and 8549 deaths.
