PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Sporting a small, barely seen bandage on his proper palm, a well-rested Scottie Scheffler stated Tuesday he is prepared for his 2025 debut at this week’s AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am after he was pressured to overlook two occasions as a consequence of a hand damage suffered whereas cooking over the Christmas vacation.
Scheffler, the world No. 1 coming off a historic nine-win season, performed a apply spherical at Pebble Seaside on Tuesday and bookended it with an in depth apply session by which he confirmed no apparent indicators of rust.
“It is somewhat bizarre making [my debut] this late within the yr, nevertheless it’s good to be again. I am positively excited to play,” Scheffler stated. “It was irritating to be sitting at dwelling, not with the ability to play golf.”
Scheffler provided particulars Tuesday on the hand damage, which he suffered whereas making home made ravioli at a rental home over the vacations. With no typical software to chop the ravioli shapes out of the pasta dough, Scheffler opted to make use of a wine glass as an alternative. However as he pressed down on it to chop the pasta, the glass broke and the stem lower his hand, particularly the “center higher half” of his palm, he stated.
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“Instantly after it occurred, I used to be mad at myself,” Scheffler stated. “It may have been quite a bit worse.”
A close-by buddy and surgeon helped cease the bleeding, however Scheffler stated he knew one thing was flawed as a result of his hand wasn’t transferring a lot, and when it did, it harm. Scheffler and his group contacted a surgeon who had helped him with a thumb damage 10 years in the past and so they have been capable of function on his hand shortly and take away glass fragments from it.
The damage healed shortly, in line with Scheffler, however there was nonetheless a time frame when he was unable to do something, together with work out. In lieu of training or enjoying, he determined to observe a few of his rounds from 2024.
“It was good to return and watch some velocity rounds simply to see how I managed my approach across the course and stayed affected person,” stated Scheffler, who final performed — and gained — on the Hero World Problem in early December. “There’s just a few tournaments I regarded again at the place the factor that caught out essentially the most was that I by no means actually overreacted to stuff. … Most of it was simply reminding myself of the right way to type of play event golf simply because I have been off for a bit.”
As soon as his hand healed and he was cleared to hit balls, Scheffler ramped up his preparation. Till 4 days in the past, it was unclear whether or not he could be able to play at Pebble Seaside, however due to a rigorous week of apply, he stated he felt comfy committing to the event after beforehand having to skip the Sentry and the American Specific.
“I needed to push myself fairly exhausting at dwelling to ensure I would not have a flareup right here on the highway,” Scheffler stated. “Tried to work out a few of that soreness and the scar tissue and stuff that goes in there after surgical procedure. I attempted to push myself fairly exhausting within the chilly final week, and it continued to get higher and higher every day. So figured I’d as effectively come again out and begin enjoying.”
On Monday, Scheffler performed a full spherical at close by Cypress Level Membership.
He famous that he is not planning to exchange each occasions he missed by including two to his schedule, however he may add one to assist him prepare for the Gamers Championship in March and the following majors.
“Lacking these two occasions is just not enjoyable; I get pleasure from enjoying them,” he stated. “Simply because I missed two I do not need to change the circulation and cadence to my schedule. If I really feel like I need to add one to get some additional reps in, then I’ll.”
