Cameron Champ arrived at the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Thursday after testing positive for COVID-19 last week, and said everyone was supportive when they saw him at the Detroit Golf Club.
“So it was just nice, like I said, not to have people look at me, oh, he has corona, we have to be careful type deal,” he said after he shot three 3-under-par 69, which put him four shots off the lead. “The support, it definitely makes it easier to come back. Again, not having people looking at me thinking that I’m contagious or anything.”
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Champ tested positive June 23 the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut, and had to withdraw from that tournament and quarantine himself.
“I was asymptomatic, I really felt fine,” he said. “I was extremely cautious because my fiancee’s father has a heart condition so we’ve been extremely cautious, so for me that was a shocker.
“Obviously the following days I had to quarantine, and Wednesday Thursday and Friday I tested each day and they were all negative, but then by Saturday afternoon I was able to go home (to Houston).”
The PGA Tour had based its self-isolation period of 10 days on the Centers for Disease Control’s protocols, but according to a release late Wednesday, the Tour will be transitioning to the CDC’s test-based model for those who are not showing COVID-19 symptoms. Players and caddies will need to follow any positive test with two negative tests a minimum of 24 hours apart.
Champ followed his positive test with three negative tests in a 72-hour span and was told by the Tour on Wednesday he could play this week. Champ said he believes his positive test at the Travelers was a false positive.
“I mean through the specialist that we worked with, at this point it’s clear that I never had it,” he said. “As far as their medical opinion, it’s pretty clear that I never had it, so that’s why I’m going about the way I am now.
“Like I said, still being precautious because if I happen to get it, then it affects my family deeply. Like I said, with my fiancee’s father and a few other family members, if they get it, it can cause serious harm. But yes, at this point, with the specialists we work with, they determined I didn’t have it.”
Champ was tested again when he arrived in Detroit on Thursday and was cleared to play with about an hour to warm up before he started at 2:10 p.m. He was in the last group as a twosome with Donnie Trosper, a former Michigan State player from Canton who qualified Monday.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.
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