PGA Tour's Jay Monahan Won't Halt Play: 'We Need to Learn to Live' with COVID-19

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said the sport needs to "learn to live with" positive COVID-19 tests amid its return to play last week.

"We need to learn to live with this virus. This virus isn’t going anywhere. ... You’re going to have more [positive] tests going forward," Monahan told reporters at a conference call Wednesday.

Cameron Champ withdrew from this week's Travelers Championship after testing positive for COVID-19. Brooks Koepka and Graeme McDowell withdrew after their caddies had positive tests, while Webb Simpson and Koepka's brother, Chase, also announced withdrawals. Monahan said the golfers were exercising "an abundance of caution" with their decisions.

"I'm going to pull out to protect everybody else. I think it's the right thing to do," Brooks Koepka told Golfweek's Eamon Lynch. "I don't want to risk anyone's life if they have respiratory issues or underlying conditions. The only way this Tour can continue is if guys to do this sort of thing and be proactive about it."

Monahan said the PGA is making "several" adjustments to the sport's safety plan and said there will be "serious repercussions" for those who do not follow protocols. 

“All of us have an extraordinary responsibility to follow those protocols. For any individual who doesn’t, there will be serious repercussions," Monahan told reporters.

The PGA's current plan includes allowing up to 8,000 to attend The Memorial next month in Ohio. There have been no adjustments to that plan at this time.

There have been seven positive tests over 2,757 tests administered by the PGA and Korn Ferry Tours over the last three weeks.