World number one Scottie Scheffler said Monday he is close to returning to the PGA Tour after suffering a Christmas cooking injury to his right hand but hasn’t pinpointed a date for his comeback.
“Just want to make sure I’m getting back to normal, progressing the right way in recovery,” Scheffler told reporters in Florida in remarks posted on the PGA Tour website.
“I’m definitely anxious to get back, excited to get back but I’m also not going to rush back just to rush back.”
Scheffler revealed that he was helping prepare ravioli on Christmas Day when he punctured his right palm. He required surgery to remove glass fragments and missed the season-opening Sentry tournament in Hawaii and the American Express that concluded Sunday in California.
He indicated he could launch his season at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am next week.
“Feeling good, everything went well with the surgery,” Scheffler said. “Body feels pretty good. Still making decisions on schedule going forward. Should know next few days to a week whether I’ll be playing next week.
“Everything’s on schedule.”
Scheffler has just enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in PGA Tour history winning seven tournaments on the tour — the first player to reach that tally since Tiger Woods in 2007.
He was voted the PGA Tour Player of the Year for the third consecutive year.
Scheffler won his second Masters green jacket, Paris Olympic gold, the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship and FedEx Cup playoffs and The Players Championship in 2024.
Scheffler said that as his hand healed he was unable to hit balls and was limited in his gym workouts.
He said he watched film of old tournaments “to remind my brain what I was feeling over certain shots, what my hands felt like on the club, stuff like that, so I wasn’t totally checking out from golf”.
Scheffler said golf wasn’t the only aspect of his life affected, as he found himself “useless” changing son Bennett’s diapers “one-handed”.
“Sometimes you don’t realize how uncoordinated you are until you have to brush your teeth left-handed,” he said.
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