Less than a week after starting its spring season at the Southwestern Invitational, the Pepperdine men’s golf team had to withdraw from its second event of the spring, this week’s Amer Ari Invitational, after a member of the Waves’ team tested positive for COVID-19.
The positive result came prior to the team departing for Hawaii. Because of contact tracing protocols, Pepperdine canceled its flights last Saturday and began to quarantine.
The school released a statement via Twitter on Monday: “After a member of the men’s golf program tested positive for COVID-19 last week, following protocols, the team did not travel to Hawai’i and has withdrawn from this week’s Amer Ari [Invitational]. Pepperdine conducts regular surveillance testing and contact tracing for COVID-19 among its student-athletes, coaches and staff in alignment with guidance from the NCAA and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.”
Hours later, an update was provided, saying that the positive result “appeared” to be a false positive: “It appears that the positive test result received by a men’s golf team member was likely a false positive. However, L.A. County Department of Health protocols still prevented our participation in the Amer Ari [Invitational].”
Pepperdine, which entered the spring ranked No. 2 by Golfstat and placed fifth at its home event a week ago, will return to action at The Prestige on Feb. 15-17. The Amer Ari, which begins Tuesday, will now have eight teams, including four that played in last week’s Southwestern (Arizona State, USC, Georgia Tech and San Jose State).