Sergio Garcia is out of the Masters after testing positive for Covid-19.
The 2017 champion said: “On Saturday night after driving back from the Houston Open, I started feeling a bit of a sore throat and a cough. The symptoms stayed with me on Sunday morning so I decided to get tested for Covid-19 and so did my wife Angela. Thankfully she tested negative, but I didn’t.
“I will sadly miss the Masters this week.”
He added: “The important thing is that my family and I are feeling good. We’ll come back stronger and give the green jacket a go next April.”
It will be the first time Garcia has missed a major since the 1999 US Open – a run of 84 straight majors.
To put that into context, the last time Garcia missed a major, Tiger Woods only had one to his name.
To put it into more context, most of the players we’re expecting to contend this week were still children. Collin Morikawa was two, John Rahm four, Xander Schauffele five, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas were six, and Rory McIlroy had just turned 10.
And if you’re wondering who now holds the longest active streak of consecutive majors, you can once again thank stats guru Justin Ray.
Adam Scott, assuming he plays this week, will start his 76th straight major and last missed one at the 2001 US Open.
The news comes a few days after Joaquinn Niemann also confirmed he had to pull out of the same reasons.
Sergio Garcia’s major record by numbers
Majors started: 87 (1996 Open-2020 US Open)
Consecutive majors: 84 (1999 Open-2020 US Open)
Wins: 1 (2017 Masters)
Top 10s: 23
Missed cuts: 27
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