AUGUSTA, Ga. — Sergio Garcia pulled out of the Masters on Monday after informing Augusta National he tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the second player to withdraw following a positive test.

Garcia won his only major at the Masters three years ago in his 19th appearance, the most of any player before winning a green jacket.

Joaquin Niemann of Chile previously announced over the weekend he tested positive and withdrew.

Garcia played last week in the Houston Open, which sold 2,000 tickets each day. It was the first domestic PGA Tour event that allowed limited spectators on the course. Garcia missed the cut.

He brings to 15 the number of PGA Tour players who have tested positive since golf returned in June from the COVID-19 pandemic-caused shutdown. That includes Dustin Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player, who sat out two events last month.

The Masters field was reduced to 94 players.

IN A YEAR marked by racial injustice, Augusta National announced Monday it would honor Lee Elder with two scholarships in his name at Paine College and an honorary tee shot next year for the first Black player in the Masters.

“It’s mind-boggling every time I think about it,” said Elder, who made his barrier-breaking debut in 1975.

It was about time, according to Masters Chairman Fred Ridley, who said racial injustice and equality have been at the forefront of the nation this year.

“Our question was not so much what we can say but what we can do,” Ridley said.

The Masters for some two decades has provided scholarship money for Paine College, a private, historically Black college in Augusta. The Lee Elder Scholarship will be endowed for one man and one woman on the golf team. The fact Paine doesn’t have a women’s golf program was not a problem. Ridley said Augusta National would pay to start one.

Elder already was looking ahead to next April when he returns to the first tee, this time with a shot that doesn’t count toward a score but is more meaningful to him than when he first played the tournament.

“That is one thing that’s going to be significant to me, because 1975 was just an ordinary shot playing a golf tournament, even though it was the Masters,” Elder said. “It’s not as significant as this shot will be come April 8, 2021. Because my heart and soul will be into this shot.”

THE MASTERS could have an even shorter field than usual this year. The 36-hole cut will be the low 50 and ties, but the tournament is eliminating the 10-shot rule.

Dating to 1962, anyone within 10 shots of the lead made the cut. A year ago, nine additional players outside the top 50 made the cut because they were within 10 shots of the lead.

It was not clear if the new cut rule was for this year only because of the November date and limited daylight hours.

The Masters dates to 1934. It did not have a cut until 1957, when it was top 40 and ties. In 1962, the 36-hole cut was expanded to top 44 and ties plus anyone within 10 shots of the lead. That remained until 2013, when the cut was increased to top 50 and ties.

The field this year has 95 players. Among those who qualified, Joaquin Niemann of Chile announced on social media that he tested positive for the coronavirus and would withdraw.