Golf

Report: Two European Tour players WD from Oman Open as a result of coronavirus quarantine


Two players have withdrawn from this week’s Oman Open on the European Tour, reportedly because they are being isolated to determine if they have been infected with the coronavirus. An Associated Press report names Italians Lorenzo Gagli and Edoardo Molinari as the players in question.

According to the AP, Gagli told the Italian newspaper La Nazione that a European Tour doctor told him at breakfast Wednesday to return to his room. Molinari, his roommate for the week in Oman, was moved to another room.

Gagli, who said he was given a test and told the result would be available in two days, expressed frustration that isolation measures were being used in the case of himself and Molinari. He referenced shared meals with other players, contact in the gym and bus travel.

“If there was a risk of contagion, then they would have to isolate dozens of golfers and cancel the tournament,” Gagli said.

Related: Coronavirus explained

Gagli has been instructed not to leave his room until next Wednesday. As a result, he will miss next week’s European Tour event in Qatar, too.

The Associated Press referenced an email from a European Tour spokesman that said only that Gagli and Molinari have withdrawn from the Oman Open on “medical grounds.” The spokesman said he could not say anything further because of patient confidentiality.

In the AP story, Gagli mentioned a European Tour email sent to players last week that requested they get vaccinated for yellow fever if planning to play in the Hero Indian Open on March 19-22 in New Delhi. He says he couldn’t get the vaccine before leaving Italy and was checked out by a European Tour doctor on Tuesday.

“I told her that I had had a fever until last Friday and she told me to wait two more days before getting the vaccine,” Gagli told the newspaper. “I went to train like normal and then this morning I was told of the decision to put me in isolation.”

Gagli, a 34-year-old from Florence, is No. 407 in the world and his only victory is the Kenya Open in 2018 when it was part of the Challenge Tour. He told the Italian newspaper that he simply was suffering from a cold this week.

The Italian says he was told the decision to stay isolated came from the Oman health ministry. Still, Italy has reported 447 cases of the coronavirus, the most of any country outside Asia, according to the Associated Press. Twelve people infected with the virus have died in Italy since Friday, all of them elderly, having other health conditions or both, civil protection chief Angelo Borelli said.



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