Q. General thoughts on playing this week and the whole policy and the way it came down and the fact that you three lads are playing together.
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, firstly, I'm happy to be playing golf again. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take to get over everything and get back on the course, but I'm super happy to be playing again. It's been pretty boring the last five or six days just sitting around doing nothing. It was fun to get out there. Obviously a few hoops to jump through yesterday. It was a little tricky situation that went on. But that's fine; life is full of surprises, so we'll move on from there and hopefully get everything cemented in the coming weeks.
Q. What did you think when you got the positive test back?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: It wasn't a surprise to be honest. I spoke to my physician and quizzed him on how it works, and he said, oh, there's a chance that you could be testing for up to a month. I've got a friend in Japan who chatted to me, he said, dude, I've been testing for 28 days, I still haven't got a negative. I knew that was a possibility. I will say I did not know about the 10-day sort of burnoff from the CDC guidelines. I knew that was there --
Q. The 10-day burnoff?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, so you can go research it yourself and find the CDC guideline, but it's 10 days from the first symptoms or a positive test, and that's pretty much the full cycle of the virus. If you don't have any symptoms on day 10 and you're perfectly healthy and you're not showing any declining conditions, then you're free to go back to work.
That I knew was a possibility, but I still thought it had to come along with a negative test according to the TOUR, but obviously the TOUR is trying to monitor things as they move, and scientists and biologists are still figuring stuff out today, so this stuff is going to change all the time, and I'm glad the TOUR have kept their finger on the pulse.
Q. When did you get the positive test?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: I did one saliva test on Monday, and that one came back Tuesday afternoon. That was positive. And then I did the nasal test Wednesday sometime around midday.
Q. Wednesday yesterday?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Wednesday yesterday, yeah.
Q. So you were in the clubhouse yesterday; now you're in the tournament, but you can't go in the facilities basically?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, clubhouse and gym and physio, basically anywhere under the clubhouse roof. We've got our own little pocket down underneath I guess the old pro shop, so the three of us can go in there and have a meal and just chill out together.
Q. Where did you change your shoes?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: I just drove straight in this morning actually. I stretched at home. I ate breakfast in my hotel room and then straight to the parking lot and felt like Walter Hagen, just walked straight on to the driving range.
Q. Did you guys talk much about your similarities on the golf course?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Not much. I asked Nick how his quarantine went, what he did. He just said he stayed in South Carolina 12 days and then drove back to Texas. I didn't chat to Denny too much, but yeah, there wasn't much going on out there. We obviously had similar situations. I chatted to Denny a bit about, hey, did you test positive, and he goes, yeah. I said, dude, we're probably going to have those tests for the next two weeks, it will take some time for the virus to be completely gone from our body.
Q. Where were you when you got the positive test?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: I was in Hartford still so I was waiting to take the charter flight. That's where I had the positive test. I'd actually checked out of my hotel and was going to move closer to the airport, and I was like, well, I don't have a hotel room, let's figure this out, and I found a hotel and just stayed in Hartford for five nights or six days, and then felt totally better after the fourth day and went to my manager's house in New York for the last would have been four nights, I believe, of the isolation or whatever you want to call it.
Q. What was the worst of your symptoms?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: That's a really hard question because they're all very minor. Sunday night I had started basically getting some nasal congestion just like you would from an allergy, just had some kind of constriction in the tubes up there, but then I had slight muscle ache for an hour that evening. I worked out Saturday morning, so those same muscle groups that I worked out were a little bit sore, and then I had two headaches in three days that lasted about maybe 20 or 30 minutes, but besides that, it was really nothing. I did feel a little lethargic and slow, but that's normally the case when I don't work out or I don't get outside or I'm not busy.
Q. Nick said he lost his sense of smell?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, so that did happen. I only noticed that on about Thursday to be honest. I was just eating regular plain meals and then all of a sudden I took some Vicks Vap-o-Rub and smelled it and I got a little burn in the nasal cavity but I didn't smell the menthol and I was like, that's weird. I was like, okay, this is the final piece of the puzzle that confirms that I had it. But that subsequently has come back. Yesterday I finally started tasting food and smell seems to be back right now.
Q. When the positive test came back even though you had spoken to your physician, was there any part of you that was worried about being able to play?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, I thought that first test was going to be a bad thing. I saw a positive and I thought, okay, I can't play this week, we've got to time out a bit longer and wait, and then when I spoke to the TOUR's physician, Dr. Hospel, he basically explained, okay, you haven't had a symptom now since Wednesday afternoon or evening, and at the time that was Tuesday evening, so that was a whole five and a half days, almost six days of no symptoms. I said, I feel great, I've been going outside for a few walks, getting some sun, like no issues, and he's like, okay, cool. Meet our expectations, you're all good to come back, and I said, what? I didn't even know that was possible. I figured the two tests was a firm hard thing in the sand, but I guess the TOUR has changed their policy now from those CDC guidelines.
Q. Did you have much interaction with other players today?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Today, no, I've literally just come straight from the ninth green, so I haven't seen anybody yet. Yesterday I saw a few guys and I chatted to a few -- a lot of guys were intrigued, they were all asking me questions, hey, what's going on, how did it happen, and I just explained. I told them the truth, I told them what happened and I tried to give them my best biology lesson that I could. But spread like wildfire, and when it goes to a third, fourth, fifth source, then you hear some funny stories, so I think that's what happened yesterday and guys started freaking out, obviously, but I guess that's all been quelled now by the TOUR, hopefully at least.
Q. And your caddies today, they were comfortable out there?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, they were all fine. I didn't have any issues. My caddie John is super happy. He's happy go lucky, and the other two guys were fine to be out there.
Q. The last question, do you feel like the defending champion even though the golf course is different and the tournament name is different?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, I am the defending tournament week champion. That's what I've decided. I'm defending this time frame, I guess. But no, I'm not getting any similar vibes to Silvis, Illinois, to be honest, but hopefully I can play well tomorrow and see some more golf hopefully.
Q. Do you mind being part of the -- you guys were part of the COVID group today basically and if not for Denny and Nick being here you'd be playing as a single. Does it make you feel at all like an outcast?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: Yeah, for sure. It's definitely weird. I figured this was going to be the case when I chatted to Dr. Hospel and spoke to another TOUR director early Wednesday morning when I was coming in, and I figured, oh, I won't be allowed in the clubhouse, I'll be sort of separate, and he's like, no, you're fine to go in there. So I was like, okay, I guess you guys are confident in everything, and then obviously did a total 180. But I guess this was the baseline that I was expecting, so it did take a little bit to get over it. The only one thing I'm struggling with is I'm not allowed to see my physio who is sort of in the gym area, private physio. That's a tricky one that maybe we can resolve with the TOUR, but I doubt I'm going to get anywhere with that because the guys will probably feel a little bit weird if I'm seeing a physio who's working with other guys, as well.
Q. Would it at all be weird, let's say Saturday you're 20th place, there's going to be groups of twos and then Dylan and a bunch of other groups of twos?
DYLAN FRITTELLI: I mean, you say that. What happens if all three of us play well and there's three singles at the back of the field on Sunday. That would be a very strange scenario and a very slow lonely round of golf, but I mean, it's not that bad. If anyone gets upset or they're worried, we're still playing golf, it's still the same golf course, but it's just get out there, play golf and go home, I guess. That's all we can do right now.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports