BRADENTON, Fla. – Every few holes this week, Scottie Scheffler has knelt beside a water cooler and filled up a Ziploc bag of ice.
A few weeks ago at NCAA regionals, the Texas freshman swatted a bush with his left hand. A thorn just so happened to lodge deep in his thumb – so deep, in fact, that doctors can’t remove it, nor can they cut his thumb open, because that would require stitches and time away from the course.
The splinter has caused his left thumb to swell, hence the continual ice baths.
Scheffler said Monday that his thumb hurts “a little bit, not too bad,” but it’s likely no coincidence that his T-33 performance here in the stroke-play portion of this NCAA Championship was his worst result in two months.