Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – After a year of domination, world number one Scottie Scheffler returns to action on Thursday, making his PGA Tour season debut in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. A freak Christmas dinner accident, while using a wine glass to shape ravioli, resulted in a wound to his hand which required surgery and delayed Scheffler’s start to the campaign. Scheffler had to pull out of the Sentry and La Quinta tournaments and push back his 2025 start until this week.
But after a year in which he won his second Masters green jacket, Paris Olympic gold, the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship and FedEx Cup playoffs along with the Players Championship, Scheffler was able to get some real down time — even if he was itching to get back on the course. “There was a lot of sitting around at first but after that I was able to get moving fairly quickly. It was good and bad. 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. “So it was nice uninterrupted time for us at home. But it was definitely still frustrating watching golf on TV and not being able to play,” he added.
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In total, Scheffler won nine tournaments worldwide last year and was voted the winner of the player of the year title — the Jack Nicklaus Award. He became the only player other than Tiger Woods in 2005-2007 to win the Player of the Year award three years in a row. Woods also took the award five consecutive times from 1999-2003. The only other player to win it three times overall is Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who took the honor in 2012, 2014 and 2019.
Scheffler has only played the Pebble Beach Pro-Am twice in his career and he finished solo sixth last year. “The course is good. There’s a little bit less rough than there was last year. The greens are quite a bit firmer, so if the rain holds off this week I think it will continue to get firmer as the week goes on,” he said. “It should be a lot of fun. These greens are small and when they’re firm, they can be really challenging. So hopefully the rain holds off and the golf course will get firm and fast. Should be really fun test.”
While golf continues to debate ways in which to appeal to a broader fan base, including through events such as Woods and McIlroy’s made-for-tv TGL competition and via player interviews on course, Scheffler says he would rather people focus on the competition itself. “I think the more we can stop talking about all the other BS that’s going on in the game of golf. I mean, we’re playing Pebble Beach this week and I’m sure a lot of the talking points in here are about pace of play and TGL and all this other stuff,” he said. “We’re playing Pebble Beach this week, one of the most beautiful, iconic golf courses in the world, and we’ve got some of the best players in the world competing. Like let’s soak that in.”
Another player returning from injury is former world number one Jordan Spieth who, having suffered from wrist issues for almost two seasons, opted for surgery in August. But the 31-year-old three-times major winner, is hoping that break to fix the problem will allow him to finally get back to his best at an event which he won in 2017. Spieth says he has set himself realistic goals for his return but still has one big target for the year. “Shortest term is to feel like I get through these three weeks and I feel as good or better than I did when I started as far as physically,” he said. “Then I would love to work myself into contention before the Masters at least once. And then maybe a lofty goal this year would be to make the Ryder Cup team.”
With few points from last year, Spieth will need to start making strong finishes quickly this season if he has any chance to make Keegan Bradley’s team automatically.
© 2024 AFP
