The father-of-two presumably contracted the infection from his children, although it is invariably worse in adults. It is resistant to antibiotics and recovery usually takes two weeks. “It hit me pretty good all week,” he said. I’m still not a hundred per cent now, but I’ll get some rest now and hopefully that will help. Hopefully the throat will clear up in the next couple days.”
Scheffler has only won the Tour Championship – and the resulting jackpot – on one occasion, but will still begin as the overwhelming favourite at East Lake on Thursday. His condition will plainly have to deteriorate substantially if he is to pull out of the PGA Tour’s season-ender.
“That’s part of my stubbornness, probably – its 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.
“The blisters on the hands were probably the most challenging. I was prioritised rest so I wasn’t able to work out the way I want to, and practise the way I want to, and even warm-up for rounds the way I want to. I really just did my best to try and battle and it maybe was a poor decision playing, but I’ve never been one to try and quit.”
Scheffler also considered the disease a threat to his rivals. “I actually almost caught myself shaking hands with Cam [Young, his playing partner] on the 18th,” Scheffler said. “I would have felt really bad.”
The biggest threat to Scheffler at Atlanta could be three-time Tour Championship winner Rory McIlroy, who bounced back from a poor effort in Memphis with a third place at Bellerive. The world No 2 had his chances of a first win since the Masters in April, but another American in Wyndham Clark showed his resilience and class to regain his lead in the closing stages and beat Ryder Cup team-mate Patrick Cantlay by three shots.