In a moment of weather-forced downtime at the Memorial Tournament on Sunday, tournament host Jack Nicklaus revealed in a conversation with Jim Nantz on the CBS broadcast that both he and wife Barbara Nicklaus had contracted COVID-19 earlier in the spring. Jack, who said he suffered from a cough and sore throat, tested positive four times while Barbara, who was asymptomatic, had three positive tests.
The Nicklauses remained at home from mid-March to mid-April recovering, and as of Sunday, both had taken antibody tests that showed they had the antibodies.
“Theoretically we can’t get it and can’t give it, and that’s a nice position to be in,” Nicklaus said during the broadcast on Sunday.
Nicklaus had not publicly discussed his bout with COVID-19 until Sunday. He acknowledged that he and Barbara were grateful for being some of “the lucky ones” who recovered.
As Nicklaus noted, both he and Barbara – who celebrated their 80th birthdays a month apart in January and February – are in the risk category for suffering complications from COVID-19.
Earlier in the week, Nicklaus had said he would shake the winner’s hand during the trophy presentation, and the revelation that he has the antibodies sheds some light on his thinking regarding that decision.
“I’m not going to give them COVID-19,” he had said, though he’ll still let the winner decide for himself whether he wants to interact.
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