The Showdown: McIlroy and Scheffler v DeChambeau and Koepka
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Scottie Scheffler hopes to begin his PGA Tour season at the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but he is still is not confirming his place in the field for the second signature event of the year. Sidelined the first month of the season due a right hand injury and subsequent surgery, the world No. 1 made it known that he does not plan to rush back from his holiday mishap.

"Just want to make sure I'm getting back to normal, progressing the right way in recovery," Scheffler said at media day for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. "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 suffered a puncture wound to his right hand from broken glass on Christmas Day while preparing homemade ravioli; he then underwent surgery to remove small glass fragments from the impacted area. The original timetable for return was slated at 3-4 weeks, but that has since been pushed back to over a month. The injury has caused Scheffler to miss scheduled tournament stops at the Sentry and the American Express.

Video surfaced this past weekend on social media of Scheffler in the gym donning some sort of wrap or brace on his surgically repaired right hand. 

"It was pretty unusual for me not to be able to do much in the gym," Scheffler said. "I was still able to get in there and do some movement stuff and some of the stuff I usually do with my legs, but as far as upper body goes, I'm not going to go and just work out the left side of my body and come into the season walking like this [leaning to the right]."

Scheffler has not played competitive golf since he won The Showdown alongside Rory McIlroy in mid-December. He arrived in Las Vegas for the exhibition match against Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau fresh off a victory at the Hero World Challenge.

His successful defense of Tiger Woods' tournament in the Bahamas represented his ninth victory of the year. Claiming prestigious titles such as the Masters, the Players Championship and the Olympic gold medal along the way, Scheffler revealed that he has been watching highlights from his historic campaign to pass the time.

"I went back while I was sitting around kind of elevating my hand post-surgery, I was just sitting there, watched some old shots, watched some old tournaments, and I reflected a little bit," Scheffler said. "Not much, but I just really wanted to jog my memory and since I wasn't able to play golf, I tried to almost train a little bit at home 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."