Well, I said it was Scottie’s tournament to lose. Turns out he didn’t lose it, exactly — he just had absolutely no shot at winning it because he was walking around Bellerive with hand, foot and mouth disease. So that’s on me for not seeing that one coming, but also, how could anyone have seen that coming. Let’s get into it.

First, Let Me Eat This Crow

In my preview I picked Scottie Scheffler to win and Chris Gotterup to finish second, and I said the “real battle” was for second place because I didn’t think anyone in the field was beating Scottie if he played anywhere close to how he played at St. Jude. Well, Scottie did not play anywhere close to how he played at St. Jude, because it turns out he’d been sick since Monday night, and by the time he teed it up Thursday he had blisters forming on his hands and in his throat. So, my read on the golf wasn’t wrong, my read on the health of the No. 1 player in the world was. Can’t win ’em all. Let’s talk about who actually did.

Wyndham Clark Wins His Third Title of the Season

Wyndham Clark went out and took care of business at Bellerive, closing out a wire-to-wire-ish win (he did lose the first-round lead for about five minutes on Saturday) to pick up his third victory of the year and the sixth of his career. He was never really threatened in regulation the way you’d expect after building a five-shot cushion overnight, but give Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay credit — they actually made him work a little on Sunday before Clark birdied 17 to put it away, then held on for the win with Cantlay finishing second and McIlroy right behind him.

This is Clark’s second time this season leading by at least five shots going into a final round — he did the same thing at the U.S. Open in June and got it done there too, so he’s clearly figured out how to close when he’s out front. Add in the U.S. Open trophy from earlier this summer and a win at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, and Clark is having an absolutely monster year. He’s now projected around third in the FedEx Cup standings heading into East Lake, and if he somehow finds a way to win the Tour Championship on top of everything else, he’s got a real case for PGA Tour Player of the Year, major and all.

Gotta be honest, I had Clark nowhere near my radar in the preview. That’s what happens when the guy at the top of the leaderboard is playing through a literal viral illness and still hanging around the top 15 — everybody else gets buried in the conversation.

So What Actually Happened to Scottie

This is the part of the recap I actually want to talk about, because it’s kind of wild. Scheffler revealed after his final round that he had hand, foot and mouth disease — yes, the thing that mostly happens to little kids in daycare, and yes, Scheffler has two young kids of his own, so you can connect those dots yourself. The illness gave him painful blisters on his hands and in his throat, and he said doctors actually advised him not to play the tournament at all.

He played anyway. Which, when you actually think about it, is kind of insane. This is a guy who just won the FedEx St. Jude Championship by eight strokes, gained nine strokes putting in a single tournament (his best number ever), and instead of shutting it down to heal up for the Tour Championship, he went out to Bellerive and tried to grip a golf club with blisters on his hands.

He said it flat out: “So to start the week it was pretty painful to grip the club.” He opened with a 2-over 72, his worst score in months, and by his own admission he skipped his usual post-round media because he just wanted to get out of there. But instead of missing the cut mentally and mailing in the weekend, he rattled off rounds of 65, 68 and 68 to climb all the way up to 7-under and a tie for 12th. That’s a wild finish for a guy who reportedly had doctors telling him to sit this one out.

Scheffler called it stubbornness — said it’s “probably a strength of mine and a weakness at times” and that he’s never been the type to pull out of a tournament once he’s started. Looking back, he even admitted maybe the smarter move would’ve been to withdraw, since his spot in the Tour Championship field and his No. 1 seed (and the $23 million bonus that comes with it) were already locked up regardless of what he did at the BMW. But that’s not really who Scottie is, apparently — the man would rather grind through blisters on his hands and throat than take a week off.

The good news for the rest of the Tour Championship field: he says he’s starting to feel better, even if his throat is still bothering him. The scary news for the rest of the Tour Championship field: even sick, with blisters on his hands, coming off zero practice and warmup time all week, Scottie Scheffler still finished T-12. Get this man healthy and give him a week off before East Lake, and honestly, good luck to everybody else.

The Bubble Battle

While all that was going on at the top, there was also a legitimately entertaining scramble at the bottom of the top 30 all week, which is exactly what I said to watch for in the preview. Gary Woodland had himself a week, playing his way from way outside the cut line into a real Tour Championship spot — a great story for a guy who’s been fighting back from brain surgery. Guys like Patrick Cantlay used their runner-up finish to punch their ticket to East Lake with room to spare, while others on the bubble weren’t so lucky and are now watching the FedEx Cup finale from home.

Bottom Line

I whiffed on the pick, but honestly, nobody had “world No. 1 plays through hand, foot and mouth disease and still cracks the top 15” on their bingo card. Wyndham Clark was the best player in the field all week and deserved the trophy. Scottie Scheffler, sick or not, still finds a way to remind everybody why he’s the No. 1 player on the planet. And now it’s on to East Lake, where the FedEx Cup — and hopefully a fully healthy Scottie — awaits.

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