Scottie Scheffler revealed late Sunday that he struggled during competition at the 2026 BMW Championship while dealing with the impact of hand, foot and mouth disease. Scheffler, who completed his tournament at 7 under, played with blisters in his throat and on his hands, making it difficult to grip his clubs. Still, the world No. 1 fought his way inside the top 15 in the penultimate event of the season and the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Scheffler called himself stubborn, citing that characteristic and the importance of the BMW Championship as reasons he played all four rounds rather than withdrawing from the tournament to heal for next week's Tour Championship. He powered through and improved as the week progressed, registering three straight under-par rounds after an opening 72. "I got the hand, foot, mouth," Scheffler said.
"So, you get blisters on your hands and in your throat and on your feet. So, to start the week, it was pretty painful to grip the club. 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. Like, I've never been one to ever pull out of a tournament, especially in the middle of it.
That's really frustrating for me. So, I definitely didn't want to do that going into this week, even though it was suggested. But I'm proud of how I fought.
"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.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
