The weekend PGA golf tournament in nearby Dublin, Ohio, had some interesting twists this weekend.

It is highly unusual for us to give editorial space to golf or sports in general, but this weekend had some interesting happenings.

Let’s start with the buzzing on the broadcasts. Our initial reaction to the strange and somewhat deafening background noise on the broadcast was to wonder what the heck was wrong with the television. Was it the television itself, the network or Armstrong?

The racket was only on one channel, which didn’t help much with the diagnosis. But what an odd sound. Finally, the broadcasters (we didn’t see the opening of the broadcast) apologized for the sound being created by the swarms of cicadas that had emerged from their 17 years underground.

While we are supposed to have a similar emergence here, based on the buzzing coming through loud and clear, Ohio has already seen a huge takeover. Hopefully, they will like the Buckeye State and remain there.

The second item of interest was the forced withdrawal of the tournament leader as he walked off the final hole Saturday. He was leading the tournament by an astounding six strokes and looked so dominant that he would likely coast to victory Sunday. But as he walked off after his great performance Saturday, the PGA officials stopped him and informed him that he had failed two COVID-19 tests and would have to drop out of the tournament. That was the accepted protocol that all players were aware of before the event started.

It turned out that through tracing, the PGA had learned at the beginning of the week that Jon Rahm had been in close contact with at least one person who had tested positive. So, he was required to be tested every day, and each day he tested negative until Saturday. He tested positive Saturday morning and was given a second test. It also came back positive, which meant goodbye to the tournament championship and goodbye huge paycheck that comes with it.

Rahm had just moments earlier shaken hands with his two closest competitors, which means they had just come face to face with the virus.

The tournament officials who informed Rahm were masked and instructed him to put one on as well. So, the guy who had just dominated the other best players in the world was actually sick with a potentially deadly virus? Wonder how he would have played if he was healthy?

Maybe cicadas are a preventative from spreading the virus. Maybe they were sucking all the virus out of the air and will take it back to their 17-year hibernation dwellings.

We realize that a virus that has become a worldwide pandemic is not a joke and should be taken seriously. But when it obviously has had no damaging effect on the athlete’s performance at the highest level of his sport, we have to wonder, don’t we?

One of the announcers wondered aloud if Rahm hadn’t experienced a prior case of COVID-19 and whether he was still a threat to other players. The very public and expensive case of the virus should help clear up some questions about its continuing threat and what precautions are needed.

At the least it cost an athlete a huge payday. Perhaps, it will push others who think they are so physically fit that they don’t need the vaccine or any other precautions. Stay tuned, as long as you can hear over the cicadas.

— RV