Sergio Garcia has been ruled out of this week's Masters after testing positive for coronavirus.
The Spaniard won the famous green jacket at Augusta in 2017.
It's the first time since 1999's US Open that Garcia will miss a Major tournament.
After 21 years of not missing a Major Championship, I will sadly miss @themasters this week. The important thing is that my family and I are feeling good. We’ll come back stronger and give the green jacket a go next April 👊🏼 pic.twitter.com/Ofpq1hBGYu
— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) November 9, 2020
Having been postponed earlier in the year, an autumnal Masters will get underway this Thursday at the Augusta National.
However, Garcia will no be present after testing positive for COVID-19 after the Houston Open where he missed the cut after rounds of 74 and 71.
"On Saturday night after driving back from the Houston Open, I started feeling a bit of a sore throat and a cough," Garcia wrote on Twitter.
"The symptoms stayed with me on Sunday morning so I decided to get tested for COVID-19 and so did my wife Angela. Thankfully she tested negative, but I didn’t."
Meanwhile, Masters organisers have made a significant change to the rules regarding the halfway cut.
Since 1962, players within ten-shots of the lead have made it through to the weekend at Augusta.
But from this week, the top 50 players on the leaderboard plus ties will make the cut.
Due to the shortened daylight hours resultant of the tournament's later start in the calendar, players will tee off from the 1st and 10th holes for rounds 1 and 2.
It's unclear whether or not the 10-shot rule has been scrapped because of the premium of daylight hours this year.
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