By World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler says his “stupid” Christmas day injury won’t impact his first competitive tournament of the year at this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The American capped off his impressive 2024 with an unfortunate injury sustained while cooking Christmas dinner, forcing him to delay the start of his season.
Scheffler said he was rolling ravioli dough with a wine glass when it shattered and punctured his right palm, requiring surgery on his hand as a result.
“No, not at all,” he told reporters when asked whether his injury might impact his performance at Pebble Beach. “Everything’s feeling good … definitely excited to play. Feeling well rested. Overall feeling good.”
Asked about how exactly the injury was sustained, Scheffler explained that he’d been away with his family in a rental property at Christmas and they had wanted to make ravioli from scratch. Unable to find a rolling pin to make the dough, he opted instead to use a wine glass.
“It broke and the stem kind of got me in the hand,” he said. “I can’t live in a bubble, (I’ve) got to live my life and accidents happen. It could have been a lot worse.
“I actually talked to somebody who did the exact same thing and the stem went straight through their hand. It’s one of those deals where immediately after it happened I was mad at myself because I was like, ‘Gosh, that’s so stupid.’ But you just don’t think about it when you’re in the moment.”
It was a strangely fitting way to close out an unforgettable year for Scheffler – for many reasons.
In April, he won the Masters before going on to win gold at the Olympic Games in Paris. In total, 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 tenth straight win at the Presidents Cup.
Away from golf, though, there was also some controversy. In May, during the PGA Championship, Scheffler was arrested, charged with felony assault and released from jail after an altercation with police. All charges against the golfer were later dismissed.
Earlier that month, the 28-year-old had welcomed his first child with wife Meredith and told reporters ahead of Pebble Beach that his injury layoff had allowed him to spend more time with his family.
“It was frustrating to be sitting at home, not being able to play golf, but we got some good time at home, just us three,” he said.
“It’s pretty rare for me to be at home throughout the day without really having much to do. I couldn’t really work out at first, there wasn’t really a whole lot I could do, so it was nice uninterrupted time for us at home.”
The freak nature of Scheffler’s injury was not lost on some of his fellow professionals.
Speaking ahead of Pebble Beach, Rory McIlroy jokingly questioned why Scheffler was even cooking in the first place.
“I think he made enough money to hire a chef. Why are you cooking yourself?” he said when asked what he thought about the incident.
“Firstly, just concern and hope he was OK. It sounds like he is, it’s good that he’s teeing it up this week. Yeah, get a chef.”
The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is due to tee-off on Thursday, with Scheffler paired alongside Brian Harman.
