Scottie Scheffler reveals ‘painful’ diagnosis that had doctors telling him not to play the BMW
Alex Slitz
ST. LOUIS — Scottie Scheffler said he was advised to pull out of this week’s BMW Championship after arriving at Bellerive Country Club with hand, foot and mouth disease, a common viral illness that mostly affects small children and causes painful blisters.
Scheffler, father of two young children, struggled in the opening round of in the second FedEx Cup playoff event on the PGA Tour with a two-over 72 just days after an eight-stroke victory in the FedEx St. Jude Championship. The World No. 1 rallied to finish T-12 at seven-under 273 after a closing 68.
Symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease include fever, painful mouth sores, and a rash with small blisters on the hands and feet.
“To start the week it was pretty painful to grip the club,” Scheffler said, acknowledging the blisters that developed on his hands. “If I was smarter maybe I would have pulled out, but I was playing so good I felt like if I could knock it out quickly and just get through the first couple rounds, I would still have a chance. But I think that's part of my stubbornness, probably. That's probably a strength of mine and a weakness at times.
“I'm proud of how I fought,” he added. “Feel like I'm starting to heal up. My throat is still bugging me pretty good. But my hands feel normal today. I actually almost caught myself shaking hands with Cam [Young] on 18; I would have felt really bad. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I almost forgot.’ So that's good news, starting to feel better. Hopefully the throat will clear up the next couple days.”
Scheffler, 30, said he started to feel ill on Monday night, the day after his win in Memphis.
“That was probably the most frustrating part,” he said. “Like I just, you know, playing really good golf, and you come out of the heat and get a little adrenaline, sometimes your body kind of crashes. Then it hit me pretty good all week. I'm still not a hundred percent now, but I'll get some rest now and hopefully that will help.”
Whether he played this week or not, Scheffler was slated to lead the FedEx Cup standings at the conclusion of the BMW Championship. That designation is worth $23 million in the PGA Tour’s bonus pool distributed to the top 125 on the points list.