A.J. Perez

USA TODAY Sports

Golfer Rory McIlroy became the latest and most notable athlete to withdraw from the Summer Olympics in Rio over concerns about the Zika Virus.

“Even though the risk of infection from the Zika virus is considered low, it is a risk nonetheless and a risk I am unwilling to take,” the four-time major winner said in a statement on Wednesday (per the BBC).

Golf is back as an Olympic sport for the first time in a more than a century, but it's already lost some major names for the same reason McIlroy cited. Australia's Marc Leishman and Adam Scott, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and Fiji’s Vijay Singh have also announced they would skip the Summer Games.

“My health and my family’s health comes before everything else” McIlroy said.

Rory pulling out of Rio is the death knell for Olympic golf

While spread mostly by mosquitos, Zika can also be transmitted through sexual activity. Most people infected with the virus show no signs of the illness, although some can experience flu-like symptoms.

The most at-risk population is women who are pregnant, especially in the first trimester. Zika greatly increases the odds a baby will be born with microcephaly, a condition that leads to unusually small heads and an underdeveloped brain in newborns.