How WHOOP data can flag an unusual respiratory rate before symptoms

Originally published on June 27, 2020

A sudden rise in respiratory rate can be an early sign that something is off, even before you feel sick. In this article, you will learn how PGA Tour professional Nick Watney used WHOOP data to catch an abnormal change, why that change stood out against nearly a year of baseline data, and how it led him to get retested for COVID-19.

Watney became the first player on the PGA Tour to test positive after the Tour resumed in 2020. In Episode 80 of the WHOOP Podcast, he walks through the exact sequence: a negative test on Tuesday, a very early Thursday tee time, a jump in respiratory rate from the low 14s to the low 18s on Friday morning, and a second test that helped him leave before exposing more people.

To listen to episode 80 in full, head to the WHOOP Podcast on YouTube.

How did WHOOP alert Nick Watney to a possible infection?

WHOOP alerted Watney through a respiratory rate spike that was far outside his normal range. After wearing WHOOP for almost a year, he was used to seeing that metric stay very steady, which made the Friday morning change hard to ignore.

Watney had played the first round of the RBC Heritage after a 3:50 a.m. wake-up for a 6:56 a.m. tee time. He felt a little sluggish that afternoon, but he assumed the early start explained it. The next morning, he checked his data and saw something different from normal fatigue: respiratory rate had jumped from his usual low 14s to the low 18s.

Watney put the signal in context immediately because he had been reading WHOOP education about respiratory rate and COVID-19. The power of the moment was not the number alone. It was the number compared with months of stability.

Watney described the change in exact terms:

"I'm usually in the low 14s to 18, the low 18s."

What you should take away

• WHOOP data stood out because Watney had nearly a year of baseline respiratory rate data behind it.
• A jump from the low 14s to the low 18s looked unusual precisely because his respiratory rate usually barely moved.
• Early fatigue after a 3:50 a.m. wake-up did not explain the respiratory rate change on its own.

If you want to hear Watney unpack the moment his respiratory rate spiked, listen to the full episode on Spotify.

Why did respiratory rate matter more than how he felt?

That spike only mattered because it stood apart from how Watney felt. He did not wake up with the classic symptoms people were watching for at the time.

He told the PGA Tour medical staff that he had no cough, no shortness of breath, and no fever. A thermal scanner and thermometer were both normal. In other words, the signal came from the data first, not from obvious illness. That lines up with what WHOOP later discussed in respiratory rate research with Scott Stallings, where respiratory rate was treated as a trend to monitor across several nights rather than a random daily number.

Watney made the point plainly when he explained why reports calling him symptomatic were off the mark:

"I wasn't really symptomatic besides this WHOOP data. They put me through a thermal scanner and also took my temperature with a thermometer. Both were normal. No cough. No shortness of breath."

What you should take away

• WHOOP can surface a change before obvious symptoms appear.
• Watney's temperature checks were normal, which made the respiratory rate spike more important in his decision.
• Respiratory rate is most useful when viewed against your own baseline, not as an isolated number.

If you want to hear Watney go deeper on why the data mattered more than his symptoms, watch the full episode on YouTube.

What happened after he requested another COVID-19 test?

Once the data raised concern, the next question became what to do with it. Watney contacted the PGA Tour, asked for another test on Friday, and then had to wait while officials weighed the lack of symptoms against the abnormal data.

Because he had tested negative on Tuesday and did not have the symptoms on the standard checklist, the Tour doctor initially said he could go warm up while waiting for results. Watney kept his distance while preparing. Then, about 20 minutes before his round, the call came back positive.

Watney later explained the timeline that forced him to leave immediately:

"I went to the golf course, social distanced while warming up, and got a call about 20 minutes before [my round] that said, 'Your test came back positive. You need to go. You need to leave as soon as you can.'"

He left as soon as he could because the decision was no longer about whether he felt able to play. It was about limiting exposure around the PGA Tour bubble.

What you should take away

• Watney requested a second test because WHOOP data raised concern even after a negative test two days earlier.
• The positive result arrived about 20 minutes before his Friday round at the RBC Heritage.
• Leaving quickly was a practical step to reduce possible exposure for other players, caddies, and staff.

If you want to hear Watney unpack the Friday testing timeline, listen to the full episode on Spotify.

Why did months of baseline data make the signal credible?

The value of that Friday decision becomes even clearer when you zoom out from one morning to the rest of his data. Watney trusted the signal because WHOOP had already taught him what normal looked like for his body.

Over months of wear, he had seen familiar patterns repeat. Bad sleep usually meant lower Recovery. Normal routines usually meant stable data. That consistency made the respiratory rate spike feel different from a noisy metric or a one-off glitch. It also fits how other golfers have talked about using WHOOP to learn personal patterns, including Dylan Frittelli on tracking sleep and routines.

Watney summed up that trust by pointing to a simple example from life at home:

"If my kids had a rough night and I slept 4.5 hours, I don't get a lot of green recoveries when that happens. There haven't been many days when it gives me 90 and I feel rundown."

That kind of repeated feedback is what turned one surprising respiratory rate reading into a credible warning sign.

What you should take away

• Baseline data is what makes an abnormal morning actionable.
• Recovery trends had already shown Watney that WHOOP usually matched how his body responded to sleep loss.
• Trust in the signal came from repeated personal patterns, not from one metric on one day.

If you want to hear Watney go deeper on why baseline consistency mattered, watch the full episode on YouTube.

What changed on the PGA Tour after Watney's case?

Watney's decision did not stay personal for long. It changed how the PGA Tour thought about adding another layer of monitoring during competition.

Will Ahmed said on the podcast that the PGA Tour procured more than 1,000 WHOOP bands for players, caddies, media members, staff, and other essential workers after Watney's case. The broader response later fed into the Tour's partnership with WHOOP in golf and was discussed again in Jay Monahan's reflection on golf safety during COVID.

Watney supported that move because he saw value beyond one test result:

"I think it's great for the Tour to do that, obviously to mitigate risk is first and foremost at this point, but also people can really learn a lot on the back end."

What you should take away

• Watney's case helped prompt the PGA Tour to distribute more than 1,000 WHOOP bands across its competition environment.
• The Tour response treated respiratory rate as one added layer of monitoring, not a standalone medical diagnosis.
• Watney believed the rollout could help reduce risk and help people learn more from their own data.

What should WHOOP members do with a sudden respiratory rate change?

That broader PGA Tour response points to the practical lesson for any WHOOP member. A sudden respiratory rate change is a reason to pay attention to context and act carefully, especially if the shift is unusual for you.

Watney did not treat one number as a diagnosis. He treated it as a prompt to ask a better question, get another test, and limit the chance of exposing other people. That is the strongest lesson in this episode. WHOOP data is most useful when it helps you make a smarter next decision.

He said that lesson was spelled out clearly enough in the WHOOP app to stick with him:

"It says in the app, 'Don't expect much change. A significant increase could be meaningful.'"

What you should take away

• A sudden respiratory rate change is a prompt to review your context and consider your next step carefully.
• WHOOP data is most useful when it informs a decision, such as resting, testing, or limiting contact.
• Stable baseline data makes it easier to recognize when a change could be meaningful.

The bottom line

• Nick Watney sought a second COVID-19 test after WHOOP showed his respiratory rate jump from the low 14s to the low 18s.
• Watney reported no fever, no cough, and no shortness of breath when the respiratory rate spike appeared.
• A negative test earlier in the week did not stop Watney from acting on an abnormal change in his WHOOP data.
• Nearly a year of stable respiratory rate data made the Friday morning spike easier to trust.
• Watney received his positive result about 20 minutes before his round and left the RBC Heritage immediately.
• The PGA Tour responded by distributing more than 1,000 WHOOP bands to players, caddies, media, staff, and other essential workers.
• The clearest lesson from Episode 80 of the WHOOP Podcast is that a stable baseline can make one unusual data point worth taking seriously.

Frequently asked questions about things discussed in this episode

How does WHOOP measure respiratory rate?

WHOOP measures respiratory rate during sleep and tracks it against your personal baseline, which makes sudden changes easier to spot than a one-time daytime reading.

What does WHOOP do when respiratory rate changes suddenly?

WHOOP shows the change in the context of your normal pattern, which helps you decide whether the shift looks routine or unusually large for you.

How does WHOOP help before obvious symptoms appear?

WHOOP helps by measuring nightly trends in respiratory rate, Recovery, resting heart rate, and HRV even when you do not feel very different yet.

What does WHOOP data tell you if respiratory rate usually stays flat?

WHOOP shows that a stable respiratory rate can be part of the signal, because a large jump stands out more clearly when the metric rarely moves.

What does WHOOP do for golfers and frequent travelers?

WHOOP gives golfers and frequent travelers a consistent baseline across changing sleep schedules, travel days, and training load, which makes unusual deviations easier to catch.

How does WHOOP help you make a better next decision?

WHOOP helps by turning body trends into context you can act on, whether that means resting, seeking medical guidance, or limiting close contact while you learn more.

Watney's case shows why one abnormal morning in WHOOP can be worth taking seriously when your respiratory rate almost never moves.