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Webb Simpson’s 15th club these days is his own coffee maker, which he won’t leave home without for some time to come.
Room service is in when on the road, takeout is out. His family is on lockdown in its North Carolina home. And Simpson is now wearing a mask much more frequently everywhere he goes.
Such is life when one comes into direct contact with a COVID-19 scare, which Simpson did after he won the RBC Heritage two weeks ago. A few days after leaving Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, his celebration was cut short when one of his five children tested positive for the coronavirus.
All family members are healthy, showing no symptoms and COVID free – and Simpson’s going to do everything he can to keep it that way. Especially with positive cases spiking throughout the country.
He said his family will be more strict when it comes to combating the risk of COVID. That means fewer, if any, visitors to the house. And Simpson will take that approach on the road.
“I think guys are so aware of how easy it is to catch this disease that I think everyone else is becoming more strict,” he said Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s start of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in the Motor City.
Far more strict than players and caddies were at Colonial Country Club for the PGA Tour’s restart at the Charles Schwab Challenge last month, the first event in 91 days. Simpson’s seeing far fewer fist bumps and said social distancing protocols are taking a stronger hold.
“Nobody’s touching; maybe an elbow here or there,” Simpson said. “I’m definitely seeing how it’s affecting everyone.”
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Still, Simpson, 34, has kept rolling on the golf course. His one-shot win at the RBC Heritage was his second this year and seventh of his career, among those being the 2012 U.S. Open and 2018 Players Championship. He’s risen to No. 6 in the official world rankings and No. 3 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings on the strength of two wins, four seconds, one third, one tie for seventh and one tie for 10th in his most recent 16 starts.
He set the tournament scoring record at Hilton Head and leads the PGA Tour in scoring average at 68.67. He also leads the FedExCup.
His improved play is the result of one thing – keeping things simple.
“I’m very confident and I feel like Paul (Tesori, his caddie) and I have simplified kind of what we’re working on, what we’re focused on,” Simpson said. “The biggest challenge this week is a new golf course we’ve never seen before, but the rest of the summer these are courses I’ve been playing. So I just feel like my game and our thought process and our strategy for how we’re going to play golf courses is very simple and it just comes down to me going out and executing.”
After missing the cut at Colonial, Simpson said he concentrated on a couple swing thoughts ahead of the RBC Heritage.
“We really honed in on them and that made me feel a lot clearer over the golf ball,” he said. “My bad shots were better; my good shots were better.”
Simple is better outside the ropes, too. He’s staying in Birmingham about 20 minutes from the course and in pre-COVID times, he would have hit up the coffee shops and restaurants. But not this week.
“Life is quieter,” he said. “I’m trying to watch … more shows, read a few more books, but a lot more time in the room or in the rental house than I had before. I haven’t thought of it as boring. My family’s not coming out. Paulie’s a great friend and a great caddie, but I mean, he likes his naps, so it’s a lot of alone time.”
Which is just fine right now.
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