Tag: 2020 RBC Heritage

COVID: Reporter went from RBC Heritage ‘zoo’ to excruciating hospital stay

Lyndsey Gough tested positive for COVID-19 on June 30 and she began experiencing severe abdominal pain about a week later.

Lyndsey Gough of Savannah was on top of the world as her birthday approached in June.

The University of Kentucky graduate was working in a job she loved as a news reporter and weekend sports anchor for WTOC-TV. She was on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, covering the RBC Heritage golf tournament — one of the first sports events in the country held since COVID-19 had shut things down in March. She celebrated her 27th birthday having a drink with friends on June 19, the second day of the event.

Almost a month later, Gough’s life has been turned upside down.

Gough tested positive for COVID-19 on June 30 and seemed to be recovering well in isolation at home, when she began experiencing severe abdominal pain about a week later.

“I was getting the chills and couldn’t sleep; I’d wake up drenched in sweat,” Gough said in a phone interview Friday from Candler Hospital. “The pain was so bad, I couldn’t sit up or lay down. I was walking my dog and had to sit down on the sidewalk.”

A call to her primary care doctor referred her to urgent care and then to the emergency room on July 9. She was run through a plethora of tests beginning at 5 p.m., and underwent surgery around midnight to have her appendix removed, along with part of her colon.

“The doctor said the COVID hit my abdomen like a lightning strike,” Gough said. “There was a lot of infection and my appendix was the size of a baseball.”

She said the doctors aren’t sure if COVID-19, a disease they are still learning about, caused appendicitis.

Gough said she doesn’t like visiting the doctor on a good day as she gets really queasy when having to give blood, or even get a shot.

“This was the sickest I have ever been, even before I got to the hospital,” said Gough, who hasn’t been able to eat solid food and has lost significant weight. “And when it comes to this kind of thing, I’m like a toddler. Having to be alone without my mom to hold my hand has been the hardest part. But I’m trying to be brave and take it as it comes.

“The doctors and nurses have been great. One nurse was rubbing my head like my mom does to calm me down before the surgery, and they covered up the IV I have next to my bed with an Ace bandage, because I don’t like looking at that.”

Another difficult part of the ordeal is being separated from her beloved female Shichon, Scout, a dog that has a following of her own thanks to Gough’s social media presence.

Her stepfather made a 4.5-hour drive to pick up Scout, and she is staying at Gough’s mother’s house until Gough is released, which she hopes is a day coming soon.

“My mom has five other dogs, so Scout is living her best life,” Gough said. “She’s running around with the wolf pack right now. But I do miss her; she kept me sane during my quarantine. I wouldn’t have survived without my little girl.”

She said she might have contracted COVID-19 talking to a golf fan who had rented a house at Harbour Town to watch the RBC Heritage. The woman followed Gough on Instagram and let her know she had COVID-19 after reading about Gough’s situation.

After finishing his third round at the RBC Heritage, Justin Thomas said he didn’t see residents and visitors on Hilton Head Island adhering to social distancing guidelines.

“I mean, no offense to Hilton Head, but they’re seeming to not take it very seriously. It’s an absolute zoo around here,” Thomas said. “There’s people everywhere. The beaches are absolutely packed. Every restaurant, from what I’ve seen when I’ve been driving by, is absolutely crowded. So I would say it’s still coincidence that there’s got to be a lot of stuff going on around here.”

Gough said that as a millennial, she lives on Twitter and calls it one of her favorite forms of entertainment. And with the COVID-19 crisis making visits impossible, she has been able to stay in touch with family and friends through social media.

With nearly 5,000 followers on Twitter, Gough has a substantial audience. She has been vocal about the need to wear face masks and has tried to get her message across that COVID-19 isn’t a condition that only affects the elderly.

“As a journalist, I’ve asked COVID-19 patients to tell me their story,” Gough said. “And for transparency, I thought it was only fair that I do the same. I’ve had a lot of people asking me questions about the symptoms I had and different aspects of COVID.

“I’ve been trying to make it very clear that I was a generally healthy 27-year-old when all this happened. I was even guilty of not worrying about it before I got it. I thought if I got it, I would be sick for like two weeks and be right back. But now it’s been a month, and it’s like there’s no clear end in sight.”

Sports reporter Lyndsey Gough of Savannah’s WTOC has been battling COVID-19 and then an appendectomy while a patient at Candler Hospital since July 9. She thinks she contracted the virus at the RBC Heritage Classic. [PHOTO FROM TWITTER]
She has had great support online with friends and followers communicating and offering their prayers, but there is still an occasional troll who questions her condition while downplaying the coronavirus.“Some might say the death tolls are going down, and my heart goes out to the families of those who have died from this,” Gough said. “But there are other ways this impacts patients. I have to look at the whole picture. When I get discharged, I’m not going to have an appendix and part of my colon, and I don’t know how that will affect me in the future. Everything isn’t going to be A-OK.“So I’m telling people even if you don’t believe in wearing masks, there’s a chance wearing one can help prevent what happened to me. So just be kind and wear one, because I wouldn’t wish what has happened to me on anyone.”

Gough was finally released from the hospital on July 20, but she has something important she wants people to know.

“Basically my message is: COVID-19 is not a hoax.”

To help Lyndsey Gough

A close friend of Gough has set up a GoFundme account to help her with what will be substantial medical bills. To donate, visit this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lyndsey-with-covid-hospital-bill

Rocket Mortgage Classic: Webb Simpson and family move on after COVID-19 scare

All Webb Simpson’s family members are healthy, showing no symptoms and COVID free, and he’s doing everything he can to keep it that way.

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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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Abraham Ancer still hasn’t won, but he keeps getting closer

Ancer is now the highest-ranked player on the Official World Golf Rankings without a win on either the PGA or European Tour.

He’s as smooth on the course as the silky tequila he’s associated with, and while Abraham Ancer hasn’t broken through on the PGA Tour for a victory just yet, it certainly feels like it’s just a matter of time.

On Sunday, Ancer fell a single stroke shy of becoming the fifth consecutive player to earn first Tour win at RBC Heritage when his putt on the 72nd hole came up just short of forcing a playoff with Webb Simpson.

How good was Ancer on Hilton Head Island? The University of Oklahoma product hit a career-best 65 of 72 greens in regulation, the most by any player at this event since 1980. That’s right, he only missed seven greens all week long.

Yet he came up just short again, and now holds the unenviable position of being the highest-ranked player on the Official World Golf Rankings without a win on either the PGA or European Tour. The Reynosa, Mexico, product is currently 24th on the OWGR (and 17th on the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings).

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Second-place finishes are wearing on Ancer, but he feels like the winning formula is in place.

“It’s tough, especially like this week, when I felt like I was right there during the weekend, hitting it even more than enough to win. That’s just golf. You’ve just got to keep trying,” he said. “I’m not going to change anything or work on anything. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, and I think that will eventually happen.”

Ancer, who founded a new tequila company named Fletcha Azul with partner Aron Marquez, struggled in his first four events after making the Tour Championship at the end of last season, starting his 2019-20 PGA Tour campaign with a pair of missed cuts and then a T-57 and T-41.

But then he got hot, finishing T-4 at the WGC-HSBC Champions and T-8 two weeks later at Mayakoba. Ancer followed by tying Sungjae Im for most points for the Internationals at the Presidents Cup, earning 3.5 points via a 3-1-1 record with his only loss coming against Tiger Woods.

He was second at the American Express back in January and got out of the gates strong during the recent season restart, finishing T-14 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.

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And with a compacted schedule on the horizon, Ancer thinks he’s in the right position to finally break through and get that elusive first victory.

“I mean, there’s a lot of big tournaments, coming up, which I enjoy,” he said. “There’s some golf courses that are, I mean, this one’s usually tough, but it played a lot easier this year for some reason, softer, I guess. I prefer tough golf courses for some reason, and a lot of them that I enjoy.”

Leading the field in strokes gained approaching the green like he did at Harbour Town certainly should help as he chases that first Tour win.

“A lot of positives,” Ancer said, “and looking forward to what is ahead of me.”

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Webb Simpson wins again on Father’s Day in wild finish to beat the darkness

Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper discusses the final round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links where Webb Simpson claimed his 7th PGA Tour title.

Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper discusses the final round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links where Webb Simpson claimed his 7th PGA Tour title.

Winner’s Bag: Webb Simpson at the RBC Heritage

Webb Simpson uses mostly Titleist gear to win the RBC Heritage at Sea Pines’ Harbour Town Golf Links, his second PGA Tour win this season.

The gear Webb Simpson used to win the 2020 RBC Heritage on Sunday:

DRIVER: Titleist TS3 (10.5 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei Blue AV 65 TX shaft

FAIRWAY WOODS: Titleist TS2 (15 degrees), with Mitsubishi Tensei CK Blue 70 TX; 913Fd (18 degrees), with UST Mamiya Proforce VTS 8 TX shaft

HYBRIDS: Titleist 913 Hd (20, 23.5 degrees), with Graphite Design Tour AD DI 105X shafts

IRONS: Titleist 620 MB (5-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts

WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (54 degrees), prototype (60 degrees), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts

PUTTER: Odyssey Tank Cruiser V-Line

BALL: Titleist Pro V1

Brooks Koepka returns fire at CBS’s Nick Faldo, shoots 65, records first top-10 since August

The two-time U.S. Open champion fired 65 to record his best PGA Tour finish since the Tour Championship in August.

On the day that should’ve been the final round of the U.S. Open, Brooks Koepka played like a two-time U.S. Open champion at the RBC Heritage.

Koepka made two eagles and closed with 6-under 65, his low round of the week, and recorded his first top-10 finish since the Tour Championship in August.

“It’s been an incredibly long time for me to be in contention,” said Koepka, who finished seventh. “It just felt good to be back in the swing of things.”

Koepka, 30, shot four rounds in the 60s at Harbour Town Golf Links and eight in a row since the golf season resumed at Colonial last week. Koepka made his first eagle at the par-5 fifth, draining a 25-foot putt, but it was a 330-yard drive to 3 feet at the par-4 ninth that even left Koepka impressed.

“I’m surprised it ended up there. I got a nice little hop left, kind of killed it on that upslope,” he said. “I’ll take that.”

Then came a weather delay, which allowed Koepka the chance to check social media. He noticed a video of his tee shot at the ninth hole and re-tweeted it with the comment: “Fascinating stuff out there.”

That was meant as a dig at CBS commentator Nick Faldo, who in response to Koepka’s declaration that commentators should “shut up and listen,” did just that on Friday during one of Koepka’s tee shots and heard crickets from Koepka. Faldo broke the silence with “Fascinating stuff.”

When play resumed, Koepka looked to make a serious bid for the title with birdies at Nos. 10 and 11, but he lipped out from 5 feet for birdie at 15 and that sealed his fate.

“I was trying to get to 21 (under). That was the goal, but I didn’t putt very well today,” he said. “It was as disappointing of a 65, I guess, I could have.”

But the positives outweighed the negatives for Koepka, who says he was trending in the right direction at the Players when the season was suspended. Koepka worked hard with instructor Claude Harmon III during the break and said the extended layoff allowed his knee injury time to heal properly.

“It just feels like I haven’t been healthy for a very long time,” he said. “Finally able to do things I wasn’t able to do for a very, very long time.”

Koepka’s putter may have let him down in crunch time, but he enjoyed feeling the “juices flowing,” again, and his good form renewed his belief that better days are ahead.

“I feel very close,” he said. “I feel like I’m knocking on the door of winning.”

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Justin Thomas, Dylan Frittelli torch Harbour Town, but it’s too little, too late

Dylan Frittelli and Justin Thomas went low on Sunday, but neither were hanging around to see if they’d be in the the RBC Heritagetrophy hunt.

Dylan Frittelli and Justin Thomas went low on Sunday, but neither were hanging around to see if they’d be in the trophy hunt at the RBC Heritage.

Frittelli went out early Sunday and shot a career-low 9-under 62 in benign conditions at Harbour Town Golf Links before a lengthy weather delay.

“There’s going to be someone that’s going to shoot 4 or 5 under,” Fritelli said of the leaders who hadn’t even teed off by the time he finished. “I’m going to go home and pack my bags. I’ll have a spare set of clothes on stand by in case I need to rush back for a playoff. I’ll probably be sipping something cold by the time they’re finishing.”

Thomas was 8 under on the day through 16 holes when play was suspended due to lightning, but he missed birdie putts at his final two holes and settled for a bogey-free 8-under 63, his Tour-leading 14th round of 63 or better since 2015.

“I didn’t look at the leaderboard once today, so I didn’t know exactly where I stood. I had a pretty good idea. I knew I needed to birdie the last two to have a chance, at least that’s what it felt like,” Thomas said.

Thomas made a valiant effort after a slow start out of the gate, posting 1-over 72 Thursday and needing to rally with 66 on Friday to make the 36-hole cut on the number. He set a target to play 10 under on the weekend, but did that and three better.

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“I would have thought 17 under would have a pretty good chance at the start of the week, for sure, but it doesn’t look like it how the course is playing right now,” he said. “To be honest, if I had putted worth a crap the last three days, I would have been about 30 under.”

Frittelli’s putter let him down on Saturday when he shot 71, but his stroke came to life on Sunday. It didn’t hurt that he stuck five approaches inside 4 feet or less. He birdied the last two holes, including a 12-footer at 18, to shoot 29 coming home.

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“I shouted, ‘Go!’ because I thought it was short into the grain, and I almost had to like check myself. ‘Whoa, why did I scream so loud?’ No background noise at all,” Frittelli said of his birdie at 18.

“The winners over the next few weeks with all this COVID stuff going on are going to have mixed emotions coming down the stretch and tapping it in for the win, I guess.”

It didn’t look as if Frittelli would need to dress in his playoff outfit he’d left out of his luggage. As the likes of Tyrrell Hatton, Abraham Ancer, Webb Simpson and Brooks Koepka reached 17 under and zoomed by Thomas and Frittelli, Thomas made post-golf plans of his own. He was going to take his dad, Mike, fishing for Father’s Day.

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Players are eating up Harbour Town; another tasty day on the menu for final round at RBC Heritage

Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper recaps the second at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper recaps the second at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Joaquin Niemann fuels move up the RBC leaderboard with take-out burritos, shoots 63

Joaquin Niemann shoots a bogey-free 8-under 63 at Harbour Town to jump into contention at the RBC Heritage.

After the way Joaquin Niemann played in his third trip around Harbour Town Golf Links during his debut performance in the RBC Heritage, he came to this conclusion.

“I don’t know why I didn’t play here sooner,” he said of the seaside Pete Dye layout that has hosted the PGA Tour since 1969.

Niemann, 21, should be back for many years to come with his world-class talent, which he displayed for every one to see early Saturday morning. He raced out to six birdies on his opening nine and sank a putt from off the green at 16 for his eighth birdie of the day and signed for a bogey-free 63 to go from the cut line to contention for the winner’s tartan jacket on Sunday.

“The first couple of days, I didn’t score pretty good, but I think I was waiting for one low score,” said Niemann who opened with rounds of 70-69. “Now I think I’m ready for Sunday.”

Niemann became the first Chilean to win on the PGA Tour when he won A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in September, and he said he nearly played in Hilton Head last year, but went back home for the Chilean Open instead.

Niemann was a captain’s pick for the 2019 Presidents Cup, and though he went winless in his debut, he called it one of the best experiences since turning pro.

“I shared a lot of moments with the best players in the world. I got Ernie (Els) as a captain. That is just awesome. That week was really special for me,” he said earlier this year.

When the Players was canceled due to the global pandemic, Niemann flew home to Chile and spent time with his family.

Leaderboard | Photos | How to watch | Tee times | Updates

“After two weeks, I was like, I’ve got nothing to do. I want to go back to practice. I couldn’t do anything for two months because in Chile everything was locked down. … We’re going through really hard times in Chile. There’s like 20 million people in the whole country, and last couple months we’ve been getting like 4,000 a day of the virus. So it’s pretty high,” he said. “I think it’s getting bad there because right now it’s winter, and they say that the winter is not good for the virus. So, yeah, we’re staying safe. My family’s staying safe, which is good.”

Niemann described it as “pretty easy” to receive a special visa for work or sport and return to the U.S. He said he’s been extremely careful while traveling to play golf and had found a Mexican restaurant, Java Burrito, he likes with cheap eats to grab take-out.

“I’ve been there almost every day like at 5 (p.m.) because at 7 (p.m.) it gets too packed, too many people,” he said. “It’s a good burrito, good bowls.”

Joaquin Niemann (left) reacts after finishing the third round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links. Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

It also doesn’t hurt that Harbour Town reminds Niemann of the course he grew up playing in Chile.

“When you miss a fairway here, to have a shot, you’ve got to have a lot of imagination. I like that. I like playing that golf,” he said. “Where I grew up, it’s kind of like a similar style. It’s tight, and you’ve got to move the ball.”

On Saturday, Niemann did his moving up the leaderboard to 13 under (tied with Chris Stroud, who matched Niemann’s 63) and now he can spend his afternoon eating a burrito and seeing just how good of a chance he’ll have on Sunday to earn his second Tour title.

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Webb Simpson rolls his rock to one-stroke lead at RBC Heritage

Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper recaps the second round at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper recaps the second round at Harbour Town Golf Links.