ATLANTA -- Scottie Scheffler's hands are back to normal -- and so is the world No. 1's game.
A week after Scheffler struggled to grip the club because of blisters on his hands from hand, foot and mouth disease, he's nearly symptom-free and carded a 5-under 65 to grab a share of fifth place after the first round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.
It was Scheffler's third consecutive opening-round score of 65 or better at the event.
"Yeah, hands are all good, totally back to normal," said Scheffler, who trails first-round leader Min Woo Lee by three strokes. "I have a couple ulcers still in my throat, but I feel way better than last week. I'm talking and eating and drinking normally."
England's Matt Fitzpatrick knew Scheffler was feeling better Friday because he talked to him during the round, unlike in the first two of the BMW Championship, the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Last week, Scheffler struggled to post a 2-over 72 in the opening round at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis while battling the viral illness. He gutted it out over the weekend and tied for 12th.
"Fitzy was laughing," Scheffler said. "I played with him [on the] first tee last week, and he said, 'Man, I thought I pissed you off or something. You didn't talk to me for two days.' I was like, 'No, man, I just couldn't speak.'"
Outside of having to scramble for par with a 6-foot save on the difficult opening hole at East Lake, Scheffler didn't have much stress during his bogey-free round. He made a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 3 and another one on the par-5 sixth to make the turn at 2 under.
On the back nine, Scheffler made a 9-footer for birdie on No. 12 and a 5-footer on No. 17. After hitting his approach over a lake into a greenside bunker on the 18th, Scheffler pitched to 10 feet and made the birdie putt.
"I wasn't really battling for par very much," Scheffler said. "That's always good around this place. Every time you miss a fairway out here, you're going to be struggling for par. [I] gave myself some opportunities and was able to make a couple birdies there at the end to shoot 5 [under]."
The 2024 FedEx Cup champion hit 10 of 14 fairways, which is always important at East Lake because of the thick Bermuda rough, and 16 of 18 greens. He gained about 1.5 strokes on approach, which was second best in the field, and almost a half-stroke on the greens.
"I can feel it," Scheffler said of his iron play. "I can feel it when my swing's in a good spot. That's really how I judge it. If you're only going to look at strokes gained on approach, there's some days where I haven't hit that great, but I had maybe one or two balls in the rough but I hit close to the hole, and all of a sudden you gain a bunch of shots. The numbers sometimes can play tricks, but I usually try to trust my feel as much as I can."
After enduring a difficult week in St. Louis, Scheffler is feeling it again in the final tournament of the FedEx Cup season.