Golfer Mark Calcavecchia: Having COVID-19 was 'the worst I ever felt'

1989 Open Championship winner Mark Calcavecchia played a round of golf on Thursday for the first time since he tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 6. 

He described his ordeal battling the coronavirus and his return to the course during a phone interview with Bob Harig of ESPN. 

"I was pretty much exhausted after playing six holes, and we were riding carts," the 60-year-old explained. "But I got through all 18. And I've got some stamina to build up.

"It's the worst I ever felt. Every bone in my body hurt."

Calcavecchia eventually went to the hospital when he experienced worrisome symptoms a week after receiving the test result. He described the ordeal:

"I got the chills something fierce. Just miserable. I told (wife) Brenda, 'You've got to get me out of here; I don't know if I can put up with this.' I was panicking. The worst I ever felt. Every bone in my body hurt. I got out of there that night." 

Calcavecchia added that he never believed COVID-19 was a hoax due to knowledge of the virus' deadliness:

"I believed it was very real because one of my friends lost his mom about three weeks ago to it right before I got sick. It's too big of a coincidence for it to be a hoax. I think it is a really evil, vicious virus. Some people get severely sick, others are mildly sick and some don't have any symptoms at all."

Calcavecchia said he doesn't know how he contracted COVID-19 and that his wife never presented any symptoms. She tested negative for the virus earlier this month.

Calcavecchia intends to compete at the SAS Championship held at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, North Carolina, in two weeks.