Scottie Scheffler's first Christmas as a father wasn't all that smooth sailing.
While preparing dinner for the family, Mr. Scheffler suffered stab wounds. 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 shards.
“We were told he should be back to 100% in three to four weeks,” Smith said in a statement provided by the PGA Tour.
“Unfortunately, he will be leaving the Sentry. His next scheduled tournament is the American Express.”
The incident occurred on the 8th, when Scheffler and Rory McIlroy defeated Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau in “The Showdown,” a made-for-TV event that pits two PGA Tour stars against their LIV golf opponents. occurred later. Nine days earlier, Schaeffler had won the Hero World Challenge in a landslide. He also adjusted his putting grip for that event, which produced surprising results and created a lot of intrigue and excitement heading into Schaeffler's 2025 season.
Of course, Scheffler's 2024 season ended up drawing comparisons to the best seasons of all time, especially Tiger Woods in 2007 and Vijay Singh in 2004. Schaeffler won a total of nine tournaments, including the Hero World Challenge and the Olympics. He also won the Masters, The Players, the Tour Championship, and four signature events.
But this time he will have to miss the season opener in Maui, where he tied for fifth a year ago. Instead, Scheffler will start the season at American Express in the Coachella Valley. Last year's tournament saw Nick Dunlap become the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since 1991. Meanwhile, Scheffler tied for 17th place, his third-worst finish of the 2024 season.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
