Drysdale’s Season-Ending Relief Turns Into Nightmare Covid-Related Christmas

David Drysdale’s end-of-season relief in retaining his Tour card was not only spoiled by a rush exit from South Africa but then a nightmare Christmas period for both he and his caddying wife, Vicky in catching Covid.

The Drysdale’s are returning to competing at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and with the £stg 5.9m Rolex Series event being the stage for a first time in 17-years on the Yas Links course, and just opposite the Yas Island F1 circuit.

Two months ago, Drysdale missed the cut an hour down the road at the AVIV Dubai Championship and after a nerve-wracking two-day wait, it was confirmed the Eyemouth attached golfer held onto his card in securing the 121st and final 2022 qualifying place.

Buoyed by their good news the Dysdale’s headed to South Africa for the opening event of the newly re-named DP World Tour and hoped to remain in the country over Christmas only to be caught up in the Omnicom scare, and what then unfolded you couldn’t make up.

Vicky and David Drysdale on the range at Yas Links ahead of this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)

Drysdale said: “When we got word of the Omnicon variant, we headed to Zanzibar and spent 11-days there to avoid hotel quarantining back in the UK.

“We then got back to Scotland on the 20th December, undertook tests and with both negative and then three days later on Thursday I felt a bit ‘ropey’, so went to bed early and woke-up as though someone had thrown a bucket of water on me.

“I didn’t feel that bad but thought as I had been outside in the freezing cold fixing a gutter, I may have picked up a cold, and then after three lateral flow tests, including one on Christmas morning and all negative, I had another about 9 pm on Christmas night and tested positive.

“Vicky got it far worse than me and was feeling really poorly on Christmas night so we both went for a PCR test on the 26th and tested positive, and with Vicky in bed for four days and with me playing the part of the butler (smiling)”.

There was some good news on the 29th when Dysdale’s clubs, which had been missing in flight for 10 days, finally turned up at their residence.

They celebrated the New Year with Drysdale testing negative after a lateral flow test on January 1st and Vicky the next day.

Drysdale said: “We went for what was a fifth PCR test on the 8th and me negative and Vicky presumptive positive.  I didn’t know there were three outcomes”.

Drysdale headed out to Dubai intending to get in some practice, leaving his wife back in Scotland but arriving in the UAE he tested positive, and this despite two PCR tests saying he was negative but resulted in being quarantined for a further three days in his rented Dubai apartment.

The pair were reunited last weekend in Jebel Ali before heading north to Abu Dhabi where Drysdale is among a strong contingent of 11 Scots in this week’s event.

Among those is top-ranked Robert MacIntyre and back with his ‘old’ caddy, Greg Milne, who caddied for MacIntyre in being named 2019 ‘Rookie of the Year.

However, Irish-born Milne is only the bag for this week as now regular caddy Fifer Mike Thomson is taking a week off after his wife gave birth.  Thomson has been on the bag since the 2020 Scottish Open.



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