PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL – South-Dakota based Sanford Health has been commissioned by the PGA Tour to conduct COVID-19 testing for players, caddies and essential personnel at this season’s tournaments on the PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Korn Ferry Tour. All testing will be conducted on-site. Lab technicians will travel to tournaments in one of three Sanford Health mobile testing units. Each unit, manned by a driver and three technicians, will arrive the Saturday before the tournament to begin processing tests. That unit will remain on site through Thursday before moving to the next closest tournament venue.
In a statement, PGA Tour Senior Vice President of Tournament administration Andy Levinson said, “With health and safety being our No. 1 priority upon our return to competition, we are extremely pleased to partner with Sanford Health and to utilize their expertise in testing our players, caddies and personnel going forward. Not only will Sanford Health’s mobile laboratories enable us to deliver test results in a matter of hours so that our athletes can properly prepare for competition, but they will also allow us to implement our testing program without utilizing critical resources from the communities in which we play, which was of utmost importance to us.”
Approximately 400 individuals will be tested each week. Each swab collection takes less than five minutes to administer and typically, test results are returned within two to four hours.
Sanford Health is based in Sioux Falls.
