BELLEAIR, Florida – The same day the Jutanugarn sisters got a new puppy, Moriya’s body started to feel weak and achy. A fever spiked later that night and on Nov. 7, she took a COVID-19 test. The next day, younger sister Ariya took one too. Both were positive.
They named their white Maltese “Casper” and couldn’t be more grateful to have such a wonderful distraction during their locked-up life. Ariya even created an Instagram account for the dog.
“It feels like a really, really bad flu,” said Moriya, who stays in her bedroom at their Lake Nona home.
A total of seven players and caddies tested positive in pre-tournament COVID-19 testing before the start of the Pelican Women’s Championship. No one, however, tested positive at the tournament site in Belleair, Florida.
Since the LPGA and Symetra Tour started testing players in July, tour officials say that approximately 6,200 tests have been administered, with 27 of those coming back positive. Of those 27 positive tests, 18 came during pre-tournament testing (before players left for the tournament).
Players will undergo more pre-tournament testing the week of Thanksgiving ahead of the next stop in Dallas, Dec. 3-6, and again once they arrive onsite.
Players and caddies aren’t the only ones who have had to quarantine in recent months. Golf Channel’s Grant Boone tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after arriving in Georgia for last month’s LPGA Drive On Championship. Boone said he experienced five days of bad symptoms, spent 10 days in a hotel, drove 1,000 miles back home and spiked a fever that reached as high as 106 degrees.
Boone’s illness led to a shuffle of on-air talent that ultimately led to LPGA commissioner Mike Whan doing on-course commentating.
Boone, who is back in the booth this week in Belleair, still hasn’t regained a sense of taste and smell.
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Moriya knows how that feels, though she’s starting to enjoy the taste of food once again. The worst stretch lasted four days, Moriya said, and the fever was so bad she wouldn’t have left her bedroom even if she could. Moriya also developed a cough, which she’s still fighting.
Ariya, however, has never had more than a headache throughout the ordeal.
Both are hopeful that they’ll be able to compete in the last stretch of tournaments that includes the U.S. Women’s Open in Houston. They’ll test again early next week.
“I should be fine,” said Moriya, “but I don’t know if I’m still going to test positive.”
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