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‘An absolute zoo’: Positive test, busy island rattle golf – The Globe and Mail

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Carlos Ortiz headed for dinner near the Harbour Town lighthouse and it felt like old times, which didn’t necessarily mean good times.

This idyllic island is a summer destination, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s a 30-minute wait, and once you get in there, there’s no social distancing, packed tables right next to each other, kids running around,” Ortiz said Saturday at the RBC Heritage. “We were impressed how nobody was wearing a mask. We talked about it on Tuesday when we saw it. We were like, ‘Oh, somebody’s going to get corona here.’ It’s crazy how busy it is in here inside the island.”

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Three days later, Nick Watney became the first PGA Tour player to test positive for the coronavirus.

In this Oct. 12, 2018, file photo, Nick Watney, of the United States, follows his shot on the eighteenth hole during round two of the CIMB Classic golf tournament at Tournament Players Club (TPC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Watney became the first PGA Tour player to test positive for COVID-19. He withdrew from the RBC Heritage on Friday, June 19, 2020.

The Associated Press

The tour put in motion part of its plan to handle such a result, starting with 11 additional tests for anyone who might have come in close contact with Watney. The initial tests all came back negative — including Tony Navarro, his caddie, and Vaughn Taylor, who played with Watney on Thursday.

Results from a second test were expected late Saturday or Sunday.

Golf made it through 11 days of its return before getting a positive test. The question now becomes who’s next, or how many more, before the show can’t go on.

Rory McIlroy, who chatted with Watney on the putting green shortly before the test result was returned, says sheer numbers made it virtually impossible to think no one in golf would test positive. He was not part of the contact tracing because “we kept our distance” on the putting green.

“We’re still in the middle of a pandemic,” McIlroy said. “I think we’ve done really well to start golf again and get back up and play golf tournaments. I don’t think anyone was blind to the fact that someone could catch the virus, and it’s a shame Nick did. But as I said, it’s one case. And as long as it’s contained to that and we move forward, we can keep playing.”

More stories emerged of a South Carolina resort that was busy as ever, even though fans aren’t allowed on the golf course.

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The tournament is typically played in April, the week after the Masters, when school is still in session. With the pandemic shutting down golf for three months, the RBC Heritage originally was cancelled, and then moved to June after the Canadian Open was cancelled and the U.S. Open was moved to September.

“Even if you wanted to go somewhere, there’s no place to go,” Joel Dahmen said. “We tried to rent bikes this week, and they’re sold out.”

Watney missed the cut last week at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, and drove home to Austin before flying to South Carolina with Sergio Garcia, who also lives in Austin.

He tested negative when they arrived, and according to McIlroy and Garcia, what led Watney to report symptoms was data on his Whoop strap that measures such metrics as heart rate, sleep and recovery.

“So it was his Whoop that told him his respiratory rate went up, and that’s why he thought, ‘Maybe I could have it,’” McIlroy said.

Garcia also was tested again Friday and said he was nervous waiting four-plus hours for the result. He said Watney apologized to him “probably 25 times” and that in his text exchanges, Watney said he is feeling fine.

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Watney must self-isolate for at least 10 days. It ends provided he has no subsequent symptoms or has two negative test results at least 24 hours apart.

Under the tour’s 37-page “Return to Golf” protocols, players have a designated hotel that is not mandatory. They are urged not to eat out at restaurants, also a recommendation for caddies and the essential personnel who must be tested when they arrive at every tournament.

It’s up to them what they do after hours.

Justin Thomas is staying in a villa with Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler, and they brought a chef. Thomas was among those who noted how busy it was on the island.

“No offence to Hilton Head, but they’re seeming to not take it very seriously,” Thomas said. “It’s an absolute zoo around here. There’s people everywhere. The beaches are absolutely packed. Every restaurant, from what I’ve seen when I’ve been driving by, is absolutely crowded.”

Navarro said in a text he tested negative. He is self-isolating in Hilton Head, able to go to the store provided he wears a mask. He said he was staying to help Watney with anything he needs, and then planned to drive him home to Texas.

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The tour administered 954 tests over the opening two weeks of its return — 487 at Colonial last week in Fort Worth, Texas, 98 for those who took the charter flight to South Carolina and 369 at Hilton Head. All were negative until Watney’s positive test on Friday.

Did that allow for a false sense of confidence?

Taylor’s test Friday also came back negative, and he spent he spent the evening watching television reports about the various sports coping with positive tests, whether it was Clemson’s football team or Major League Baseball training sites.

“It’s eye-opening to see how much the virus is out there and how careful we have to be,” Taylor said. “I felt like coming in the last week everyone was super careful, and then we got here, and the vibe on the island is a little more relaxed. I feel like we might have gotten a little more relaxed, too. Everyone has kind of ratcheted it up a little bit. Not hanging out with too many people, hanging with too many guys, stay out of restaurants and bars and those things.

“I think if we do that, we should be safe,” he said. “We’ve all got to keep that in the back of our mind and just be smart.”

The PGA Tour heads to Cromwell, Connecticut, next week, followed by Detroit and then back-to-back tournaments in Ohio.

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“We’ve got to see what happens,” Koepka said. “It’s unfortunate Nick got it, but at the same time, hopefully, it stays with just him and doesn’t spread. Because I think we’ll have a big issue on our hands if it keeps going as the weeks continue.”

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After 20 years at the top of chess, Magnus Carlsen is making his next move

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STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Few chess players enjoy Magnus Carlsen‘s celebrity status.

A grand master at 13, refusing to play an American dogged by allegations of cheating, and venturing into the world of online chess gaming all made Norway’s Carlsen a household name.

Few chess players have produced the magical commodity that separates Norway’s Magnus Carlsen from any of his peers: celebrity.

Only legends like Russia’s Garry Kasparov and American Bobby Fischer can match his name recognition and Carlsen is arguably an even more dominant player. Last month, he beat both men to be named the International Chess Federation’s greatest ever.

But his motivation to rack up professional titles is on the wane. Carlsen, 33, now wants to leverage his fame to help turn the game he loves into a spectator sport.

“I am in a different stage in my career,” he told The Associated Press. “I am not as ambitious when it comes to professional chess. I still want to play, but I don’t necessarily have that hunger. I play for the love of the game.”

Offering a new way to interact with the game, Carlsen on Friday launched his application, Take Take Take, which will follow live games and players, explaining matches in an accessible way that, Carlsen says, is sometimes missing from streaming platforms like YouTube and Twitch. “It will be a chiller vibe,” he says.

Carlsen intends to use his experience to provide recaps and analysis on his new app, starting with November’s World Chess Championship tournament between China’s Ding Liren and India’s Gukesh Dommaraju. He won’t be competing himself because he voluntarily ceded the title in 2023.

Carlsen is no novice when it comes to chess apps. The Play Magnus game, which he started in 2014, gave online users the chance to play against a chess engine modeled against his own gameplay. The company ballooned into a suite of applications and was bought for around $80 million in 2022 by Chess.com, the world’s largest chess website.

Carlsen and Mats Andre Kristiansen, the chief executive of his company, Fantasy Chess, are betting that a chess game where users can follow individual players and pieces, filters for explaining different elements of each game, and light touch analysis will scoop up causal viewers put off by chess’s sometimes rarefied air. The free app was launched in a bid to build the user base ahead of trying to monetizing it. “That will come later, maybe with advertisements or deeper analysis,” says Kristiansen.

While Take Take Take offers a different prospect with its streaming services, it is still being launched into a crowded market with Chess.com, which has more than 100 million users, YouTube, Twitch, and the website of FIDE the International Chess Federation. World Chess was worth around $54 million when it got listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The accessibility of chess engines that can beat any human means cheating has never been easier. However, they can still be used to shortcut thousands of hours of book-bound research, and hone skills that would be impossible against human opponents.

“I think the games today are of higher quality because preparation is becoming deeper and deeper and artificial intelligence is helping us play. It is reshaping the way we evaluate the games,” especially for the new generation of players, says Carlsen.

At the same time, he admits that two decades after becoming a grand master, his mind doesn’t quite compute at the tornado speed it once did. “Most people have less energy when they get older. The brain gets slower. I have already felt that for a few years. The younger players’ processing power is just faster.”

Even so, he intends to be the world’s best for many years to come.

“My mind is a bit slower, and I maybe don’t have as much energy. But chess is about the coming together of energy, computing power and experience. I am still closer to my peak than decline,” he said.

Chess has been cresting a popularity wave begun by Carlsen himself.

He became the world’s top-ranked player in 2011. In 2013, he won the first of his five World Championships. In 2014, he achieved the highest-ever chess rating of 2882, and he has remained the undisputed world number one for the last 13 years.

Off the table, chess influencers, like the world No. 2, Hikaru Nakamura, are using social media to bring the game to a wider audience. The Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” burnished chess’ unlikely cerebral sex appeal when it became one of the streamer’s biggest hits in 2020.

And in 2022 Carlsen’s refusal to play against Hans Niemann, an American grand master, who admitted to using technology to cheat in online games in the past, created a rare edge in the usually sedate world of chess. There is no evidence Niemann ever cheated in live games but the feud between the pair propelled the game even further into public consciousness.

Whether chess can continue to grow without the full professional participation of its biggest celebrity remains to be seen.

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Top figure skaters ready to hit the ice at Skate Canada International

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Canadian pairs team Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps along with ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier headline a strong field at Skate Canada International. The Canadians say they’re excited to perform in front of a home crowd as the world’s best figure skaters arrive in Halifax. (Oct. 24, 2024)

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Nico Echavarria shoots another 64 to lead the Zozo Championship by 2 shots after the second round

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INZAI CITY, Japan (AP) — Nico Echavarria shot a 6-under 64 on Friday — matching his 64 on Thursday — to lead by two shots over Taylor Moore and Justin Thomas after the second round of the Zozo Championship in Japan.

Thomas shot 64 and Moore carded 67 with three others just three shots off the lead including Seamus Power, who had the day’s low round of 62 at the Narashino Country Club.

Thomas has twice won the PGA Championship but is winless in two years on the PGA Tour.

Eric Cole (67) and C.T. Pan (66) were also three behind heading to Saturday.

Nick Taylor, of Abbotsford, B.C., is the top Canadian at 5-under and tied for 16th.

Ben Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont., is two shots back of Taylor and tied for 31st.

“I’ve never had a lead after 36 holes,” said Echavarria, a Colombian who played at the University of Arkansas. His lone PGA win was last year in Puerto Rico.

He had a two-round total of 12-under 128.

“I’ve had it after 54, but never after 36, so it’s good to be in this position. There’s got to be some pressure,” he added. “Hopefully a good round tomorrow can keep me in the lead or around the lead. And how I said yesterday — the goal is to be close with nine holes to go.”

Rickie Fowler, a crowd favorite in Japan because of his connections to the country, shot 64 to go with an opening 68 and was four shots back going into the weekend. Max Greyserman was also four behind after a 68.

“It would be amazing to win here,” said Fowler, whose mother has Japanese roots. “Came close a few years ago.”

Fowler tied for second in 2022

Fowler described his roots as “pretty far removed for Japan, but I’m sure I have relatives here, but I don’t know anyone. Japanese culture’s always been a fairly big part of life growing up. I always love being over here.”

Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama shot his second 71 and was 14 shots off the lead.

Defending champion Collin Morikawa shot 67 and pulled within eight shot of the lead, and Xander Schauffele — British Open and PGA winner this season — shot 65 and was 10 behind after a 73 on Thursday.

“I feel like I’ve got a good game plan out here,” Morikawa said, another player with Japanese connections. “I just have to execute shots a little better.”

“I am the defending champ, but that doesn’t mean I’m immediately going to play better just because I won here,” he added. “It’s a brand new week, it’s a year later. I feel like my golf game is still in a good spot. I just haven’t executed my shots. When that doesn’t happen it makes golf a little tougher.”

Schauffele turned 31 on Friday and said he was serenaded before his opening tee shot. He also has ties to Japan. His mother grew up in Japan and his grandparents live in the Tokyo area.

“Nice way to spend my 31st birthday,” he said.

___

AP golf:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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