Scottie Scheffler announced that he has withdrawn from American Express due to an injury sustained over Christmas.
While preparing dinner for the family, Mr. Scheffler suffered a stab wound. in the palm of his right hand, according to his agent, Blake Smith. A small shard of broken glass injured his hand, and some of the shards remained in place. As a result, he had to undergo surgery to remove the glass fragments.
Initial predictions were that Scheffler would be ready by mid-January and would therefore only miss one tournament, the Sentry on Maui.
But that proved not to be the case. Mr. Scheffler posted the following. instagram stories on monday:
“After consulting with my medical team, I have made the decision to withdraw from next week's American Express Tournament in order to allow my injury more time to heal,” Scheffler wrote.
“We still have hope to start the 2025 season with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.”
Given the history Scheffler has built throughout the 2024 season, fans and pundits will be looking to see if Scheffler can repeat his past success this season. That being said, Scheffler won the first of nine tournaments held at Bay Hill in March. He struggled with his putting in early 2024, but then made the switch. He changed his putter from a blade to a mallet before the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the rest was history. Scheffler went on to win at TPC Sawgrass, Augusta National and Havertown over the next six weeks. He also tied for second at the Houston Children's Texas Open during that period. The world No. 1 then went on to win the Memorial, Travelers and Olympic races before capping off the season with a commanding win at East Lake.
This doesn't mean history will repeat itself, but hopefully Scheffler will return to competitive action at Pebble Beach, where he tied for sixth last year.
If that doesn't happen, alarm bells may ring.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
