DUBLIN, Ohio — In many ways, this year’s Memorial Tournament was a return to normalcy.
The tournament was played during its traditional time of year, and spectators were back in numbers large enough to fit the view that the pandemic is ebbing.
Then came Saturday evening’s stunning announcement. Jon Rahm, the defending champion whose third-round 64 gave him a six-shot lead, had to withdraw because of a positive coronavirus test.
“I think it probably is mostly post-COVID,” tournament founder Jack Nicklaus said Sunday morning. “Unfortunately, the word is ‘mostly.’”
Nicklaus said he found out about Rahm’s positive test at the same time as everyone else. Rahm dropped to his knees when a doctor told him just off the 18th green about the COVID test result.
“I’m sitting there saying, ‘Oh my gosh, who is hurt? His wife? His kid? His parents?” Nicklaus said. “That’s your first reaction. And then it turned out to be what it was. You can’t say that was a good result. But it was a better result than somebody being hurt.”
Memorial: Leaderboard | Photos
Even so, Nicklaus said, “Everybody here is devastated. It’s a terrible thing to have happened. I’m disappointed for him mainly. I’m disappointed for the tournament. I’m disappointed for the fans. I’m disappointed for the guys that are behind him. One of them is going to win the tournament, and I think they’ll feel that way, too.”
Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler played with Rahm in the third round Saturday. Cantlay was informed during his post-round media interviews that Rahm had tested positive and had to withdraw.
“That’s obviously really disappointing,” said Cantlay, who became the co-leader with Collin Morikawa at 12-under. “It’s kind of the worst situation for something like that to happen, and he played awesome today and it’s just really a shame.”
Scheffler was with Rahm in the scoring area when Rahm told him he would be forced to withdraw.
“My heart just sank,” Scheffler said. “It’s terrible that that happened.”
PGA Tour veteran Stewart Cink called Rahm’s forced withdrawal an “extremely unfortunate circumstance.”
“It casts a shadow over the tournament, for sure,” he said. “But COVID has cast a shadow overall for the whole world for the better part of a year and a half now. Unfortunately, the one way that COVID could really, really affect the tournament in a massive way is the way it did — take the leader out of the event.”
Whoever prevailed Sunday would do so with a win that most would consider to have an asterisk attached. Nicklaus quipped that he would like to find a way to send Rahm three-fourths of a trophy.
He said golfers behind Rahm on the leaderboard who suddenly went from hunter to hunted would have to adjust their mindset.
“You’ve got to find out whether the mental approach will be one of, ‘I don’t really believe I should be in this position,’ or that ‘I am in this position and I have to take advantage of it.’ I don’t know what my attitude would be. I’ve never had that happen where all of a sudden, a guy is gone.”
It is a Memorial tradition for Nicklaus to shake the hand of the winner on the 18th green. He had to settle for a fist bump with Rahm last year because of COVID protocols.
The handshake returns Sunday but not with the same feeling.
“It’ll be a little shallow, if that’s the right word, a little empty maybe to some extent,” Nicklaus said. “But I think that the winner will have a big smile on his face, and he’ll be very happy.”
