Scottie Scheffler: Christmas dinner injury forces golf’s world no. 1 to miss the PGA Tour season opener



CNN

While Christmas Day is the most wonderful time of the year for many, Scottie Scheffler will remember his 2024 festivities for a variety of reasons.

To close a slide year for the men’s golf world no. 1, Scheffler suffered an injury while preparing his Christmas dinner and will now miss the start of the PGA Tour’s 2025 season.

“On Christmas Day, while preparing dinner, Scottie sustained a puncture wound in the palm of his right hand from a broken glass,” Scheffler’s manager Blake Smith said via the PGA Tour on Friday. “Small fragments of glass were left in the palm, requiring surgery.”

Smith added that Scheffler has been told he “should be back to 100% in three to four weeks”.

But following the surgery, the 28-year-old will miss The Sentry tournament, the PGA Tour season opener in Hawaii.

This news is just the latest in a hectic calendar year for Scheffler – on and off the golf course.

On the links, Scheffler has been on a streak that most golfers can only dream of. In April he won the Masters before going on to win gold at this year’s Paris Olympics. In all, Scheffler won seven events on the PGA Tour in 2024, including the TOUR Championship.

Scheffler also won the Hero World Challenge and helped lead Team USA to its 10th consecutive Presidents Cup win.

Scheffler won the 2024 Masters Tournament during a rollercoaster year.

It was an equally memorable year off the court for the Olympic gold medalist. Scheffler and his wife Meredith welcomed their first child on May 8 of this year, just over a week before Scheffler played in the PGA Championship.

It was during that tournament that Scheffler was arrested, charged with assault and released from jail before shooting 5 under par on day two of the event. All charges against the golfer were later dismissed.

There certainly won’t be many more eventful years in the golfer’s life and his 2025 season will now get off to a much quieter start following his injury.

Scheffler expects to return to competition in mid-January at the American Express tournament in La Quinta, California, according to Smith.