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World number one Scottie Scheffler said Monday he was close to returning to the PGA Tour after suffering a cooking injury to his right hand, but did not set a date for his return.
“I just want to make sure I get back to normal and progress in the right direction in my recovery,” Scheffler told reporters in Florida in remarks posted on the PGA Tour website.
“I’m really looking forward to coming back, I’m excited to come back, but I’m also not going to rush just to run back.”
Scheffler revealed he was helping make ravioli on Christmas Day when he pierced his right palm. He required surgery to remove glass fragments and missed the Sentry season-opening tournament in Hawaii and the American Express that ended Sunday in California.
He indicated he could kick off his season at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am next week.
“I feel good, everything went well with the surgery,” Scheffler said. “The body feels pretty good. I’m still making decisions about the upcoming schedule. I should know in the next few days or a week if I’ll play next week.
“Everything is as planned.”
Scheffler is coming off one of the most successful seasons in PGA Tour history, winning seven tournaments on tour – the first player to reach that total since Tiger Woods in 2007.
He was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year for the third year in a row.
Scheffler won his second Masters green jacket, Paris Olympic gold, the PGA Tour season-ending Championship, the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the 2024 Players Championship.
Scheffler said that as his hand healed, he was unable to hit balls and was limited in his gym workouts.
He said he watches films of old tournaments “to remind my brain how I felt on certain shots, how my hands felt on the club, stuff like that, so I wasn’t stopping golf completely “.
Scheffler said golf wasn’t the only aspect of his life affected, as he found it “useless” to change his son Bennett’s diapers “one-handed.”
“Sometimes you don’t realize how uncoordinated you are until you have to brush your teeth with your left hand,” he said.
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