Two European Tour players, Lorenzo Gagli and Edoardo Molinari, have been quarantined, reportedly, over fears they have contracted the coronavirus, and forced to withdraw from this week’s Oman Open.
Gagli and Molinari were approached by a European Tour doctor at breakfast on Wednesday, Gagli told Italian newspaper La Nazione. Though the two were supposed to be roommates for the week, they were isolated in separate rooms. Gagli said he was given a test and told the result would be available in two days, but that he would have to remain in the room until next Wednesday, forcing him to miss the Qatar Masters as well.
“It’s an inexplicable decision,” Gagli said to La Nazoine. “Only us two have been excluded from the tournament, but I arrived in Muscat last Sunday and over the last few days I’ve worked out in the gym with dozens of other players. I ate with them and traveled by bus with them.
“If there was a risk of contagion, then they would have to isolate dozens of golfers and cancel the tournament.”
In a statement to the AP, the European Tour said Gagli and Molinari had withdrawn from the event on “medical grounds.”
Gagli, who did acknowledge he had been battling a cold, said the decision came from the Oman health ministry, and claims it is costing him and Molinari “serious economic damage.”
Both players hail from Italy, which is suffering an outbreak of the coronavirus with more than 440 cases confirmed, most of any non-Asian country. Gagli entered the week 407th in the Official World Golf Ranking, while Molinari (348th) is a former U.S. Amateur champ and Ryder Cupper, and brother to 2018 Open champ Francesco Molinari.