The PGA Tour season is winding down with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler among the favorites to win the Tour Championship at East Lake. During the BMW Championship, Scheffler revealed that he was dealing with hand, foot and mouth disease.
McIlroy noted that he shared a light-hearted moment with Scheffler in Atlanta. The golfer implied that he wondered if he should be keeping his distance from the star golfer amid his recent sickness.
“Yeah, I heard that on Sunday,” McIlroy noted on August 25, 2026. “I know he said something.
“I was getting lunch yesterday and the first person I saw that was putting food on his plate beside me was Scottie, so I was like: Are you okay? Are you fine? Are you feeling better?”
McIlroy admitted that it can be challenging to stay healthy while raising young kids. The star and wife, Erica Stoll, are the proud parents of one daughter, Poppy.
“Yeah, kids bring stuff home from school,” McIlroy added. “They bring stuff home from day care out here. I think anyone that’s had children, it’s a part of it.
“That’s the only way that they’re going to build up their own immunities. Unfortunately the parents fall foul of that at times. But that’s part of life. You’re going to get little viruses and little things that happen,” McIlroy continued.
“But it obviously affected Scottie for the first couple days last week, but he seemed to play and feel a bit better at the weekend. Hopefully he feels back 100 percent this week.”
Scottie Scheffler Is Recovering From Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease Amid FedExCup Playoffs
Despite being under the weather, Scheffler was still able to finish T12 at the BMW Championship. As a reminder, all 30 golfers will start at even par at the Tour Championship.
“I got the hand, foot, mouth,” Scheffler explained in an August 23, media session. “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,” Scheffler added.
“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.”
Tour Championship Odds: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy Among the Favorites to Win at East Lake
Despite recovering from an illness, the oddsmakers still appear bullish on Scheffler’s chances at East Lake. The star is the favorite to win the Tour Championship at +340, per DraftKings.
McIlroy is second in the latest golf odds at +770. The golfer noted that his previous FedExCup titles have all held unique meanings.
“They’ve all been meaningful in their own ways,” McIlroy reflected.
“But yeah, you could argue that each of the FedExCups I’ve won I maybe wasn’t the best player of the entire year, but I always felt like it was a way to redeem myself or end the year on a really positive note.”
Rory McIlroy Makes Personal Admission Amid Scottie Scheffler’s Health Scare