Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus revealed Sunday that he and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus back in March when the pandemic first swept across the United States.
Nicklaus, who made the revelation during the CBS telecast of the Memorial Tournament, said his wife showed no COVID-19 symptoms, but he had had a sore throat and a cough. He also said that they were home in North Palm Beach, Florida, from March 13 “until we were done with it” on about April 20.
“It didn’t last very long, and we were very, very fortunate, very lucky,” Nicklaus said. “Barbara and I are both of the age, both of us 80 years old, that is an at-risk age. Our hearts go out to the people who did lose their lives and their families. We were just a couple of the lucky ones.”
This past Tuesday, Nicklaus said he would shake hands with whoever wins the Memorial Tournament, a tradition he created.
“If they don’t want to shake my hand, that’s fine, I’ll give them a fist bump or an elbow bump, but I’m not going to give them COVID-19, so that’s… I wouldn’t put anybody in that position,” Nicklaus said Tuesday.
He said again on CBS that he’ll shake hands if the winner wanted to do so, but he would be fine if the winner didn’t.
“We’ve got the antibodies, and theoretically we can’t get it and can’t give it,” he said. “That’s a nice position to be in.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a June 30 update, reported that it did not know if people who recovered from COVID-19 could get infected again. The CDC also advised that even with a positive test for antibodies, “you still should take preventive measures to protect yourself and others.”
