#Matt Wallace plays round alone after his two partners withdraw due to coronavirus concerns

CROMWELL, Conn. — Another PGA Tour player in the Travelers Championship field tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from the tournament.

Denny McCarthy, after feeling symptomatic Thursday night, tested positive Friday morning. Bud Cauley, one of McCarthy’s playing partners on Thursday, tested negative, but told Tour officials he was feeling some symptoms and withdrew as a precaution.

For Matt Wallace, who played with McCarthy and Cauley on Thursday, Friday was a harrowing day.

Wallace tested negative and continued play, shooting 72 on Friday while playing alone and missing the cut at 2-over.

“It hasn’t been the best day,’’ Wallace said. “I got tested this morning, [and it] was kind of a scary sort of hour or so to be here on-site, unknown if I had it or not. I mean, there’s much worse things than missing the cut, isn’t there, at the moment?’’

Asked why he didn’t withdraw like Cauley did, even though he didn’t test positive, Wallace said, “Because [Cauley] said that he didn’t feel well. I can understand why he wouldn’t play. I’m playing with a chance to change my career if I win, so why wouldn’t I play? It’s black and white for me. I tested negative and I can go play.’’

Wallace took a shot at the PGA Tour for not altering the pairings so he didn’t have to play by himself, saying he was “a bit frustrated’’ by that.

“I don’t know what the PGA Tour might think, but would [Dustin Johnson] play on his own? Would Rory [McIlroy] play on his own?’’ Wallace said. “I probably doubt it. They could have dropped one of the players back from in front or maybe from behind to go ahead and play with me. I just don’t think it was a great move to leave someone out on their own in the middle of the pack.’’

McCarthy, who shot a 3-under 67 in Thursday’s opening round, said, “On [Thursday] night, I woke up in the middle of the night with additional aches and soreness and sensed something was off. I felt like the only thing to do was get tested at that point before I went to the course.”

McCarthy is the third PGA Tour player to test positive in the three weeks since the Tour’s restart. Nick Watney withdrew after feeling symptomatic entering the second round of the RBC Heritage Championship last week, tested positive and withdrew. And Cameron Champ tested positive before the Travelers began this week and withdrew Tuesday.

The Travelers also lost Brooks Koepka and his brother, Chase, when Brooks’ caddie, Ricky Elliott, tested positive before the tournament began. Graeme McDowell, whose caddie, Ken Comboy, tested positive, also withdrew out of precaution. And Webb Simpson, citing a family member of his testing positive, also withdrew.

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It had to come to an end at some point. Collin Morikawa’s impressive streak of consecutive cuts made to start his PGA Tour career ended on Friday at 22, which was three short of Tiger Woods’ record of 25.

Morikawa, who lost to Daniel Berger in a playoff at the Charles Schwab Challenge three weeks ago, on Friday followed his opening-round 72 with a 71 to finish 3-over to miss his first cut as a pro.

“It was bound to happen at some point,’’ Morikawa said. “Now I guess we’re going to stop talking about [the streak] and I can go and just go on to next week. I had a tough week last week [a tie for 64th at the RBC Heritage] and coming into this week everything felt good.

“I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole. I missed the cut as an [amateur] at the Safeway Open in 2016, and I learned more in those two days than I did in a lot of my events so far as a pro. I’m going to learn a lot from this week and just move forward.’’

The 23-year-old Morikawa said he’s not playing next week in Detroit but plans to play the two events at Muirfield Village, the second of which is the Memorial.