The PGA Tour Needs To Implement An Injury Report

How would you feel if you placed a wager on a player who, unbeknownst to you, had hand, foot and mouth disease? 

That was the case for many bettors last week at the BMW Championship where world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler teed it up all week while dealing with a sore throat and blisters on his hands. 

After a dominant win at the FedEx St. Jude in Memphis, Scheffler went to a big ballpark at Bellerive in St. Louis as a huge favorite and many put money on him to go on a run in the playoffs.

They wouldn’t have done that if they knew what he was dealing with.

Scheffler looked completely out of it in the first round. He shot a 2-over-par 72, putting him in a position to need something magical to even be in contention on the weekend. There were reports of Scheffler sounding hoarse on Thursday and it was of note that he gave fist bumps instead of handshakes after the round was over. 

Those concerns were confirmed when he turned down interview requests after the round because he was sick. He went on to finish T12.

Scheffler wasn’t just under the weather

It’s one thing if Scheffler woke up feeling a little ill and battled through it during the first round.

That wasn’t the case.

Scheffler told reporters on Sunday that he had hand, foot and mouth disease, a viral infection common in young children, of which Scheffler has a couple at home. Its most prominent symptom is painful blisters on the hands, feet and inside the mouth. 

Scheffler noted that it was tough to grip the club on Thursday and it probably would have been smart for him to withdraw if he weren’t so stubborn. 

“I was prioritizing rest so I wasn’t able to work out the way I want to, and practice the way I want to, and even warm up for rounds the way I want to,” Scheffler said when the tournament was over. “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.”

He first had symptoms on Monday. By the time the weekend rolled around, he was feeling better. 

That tracks. Scheffler had the fourth-best score in the field from Friday through Sunday, meaning he could have been right in the mix with a better opening round. 

It’s worth asking whether Scheffler should have even been allowed to play with his illness. HFMD is very contagious, spreading through personal contact and respiratory droplets. We can assume he was careful in the locker room and he at least refused handshakes.

But a larger issue that came to mind is that, unlike other sports, the PGA Tour has no mandatory injury reports.  

That would solve not only the concern of spreading illnesses but also an issue revolving around a lot of money: gambling. 

The Tour needs injury reports

The PGA Tour has not been shy promoting gambling in recent years.

Between deals with massive sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings along with the creation of Golfbet, a betting hub directly produced by the Tour, it’s clear that executives have fully embraced the shifting sports market. 

But just like other professional sports, this has brought on issues; most notably, the lack of transparency around player injuries. 

It’s simply not acceptable that the Tour spent the first few days of last week’s BMW Championship promoting gambling odds and favorite picks through its content, featuring Scheffler as the favorite, while the world’s top-ranked player was extremely ill at home and unsure if he would even tee it up. 

This isn’t on Scheffler. He currently has no requirement to report how he’s feeling to social media or anyone else. Sometimes we’ll hear about it in press conferences before the tournament, but that’s about it. 

But the PGA Tour needs to change that. 

Unlike other leagues, it would require a bit more work and honesty. We can’t expect every player to be checked on each week with more than 100 players in the field with different schedules and routines. But we could expect the Tour to implement a policy requiring players to submit a wellness report each tournament week on Monday. Perhaps they could even require two—one on Monday and one on Wednesday. 

Like golf itself, this would require honesty and integrity. But players would have no real reason to lie and they could even impose fines if a player was found to have been dishonest on their report. 

It’s shocking how little we know about players’ health in professional golf. For example, Sungjae Im missed the first couple of months of the 2026 season, much to the disappointment of those who may have drafted him in season-long leagues on DraftKings or other sportsbooks. Fans had absolutely no idea what was going on. 

You can’t ask for privacy when you are also asking your fans to bet on the players. 

Last week, it may have saved a lot of fans some money. Monday’s injury report would have shown: Scottie Scheffler (questionable): Hand, foot and mouth disease. 

I certainly wouldn’t have placed money on him after that. 

Top Photo Caption: Scheffler deals with an injury at the 2024 Players Championship. (GETTY IMAGES/Ben Jared)