AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Scottie Scheffler returns from a hand injury and picks up where he left off in 2024

Jed Jacobsohn
PEBBLE BEACH — Scottie Scheffler bogeyed his first hole of the season Thursday to begin the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Nice of him to give everyone a head start.
Sidelined for a month after suffering a freak hand injury at Christmas making ravioli—look it up, we’re not repeating the gory details—Scheffler showed glimpses of why he remains a cut above his peers with an opening five-under 67 at Spyglass Hill. Other than that early hiccup at the par-4 10th hole, the world No. 1 looked about the same as he did most of last year in winning seven tour events, including his second Masters, and PGA Tour Player of the Year honors.
This guy can’t even ease into a season coming off an injury properly.
He trails leader Russell Henley by three strokes, but it’s hard to not think he’s ahead of schedule getting his groove back. If it ever really went away.
“I was kind of prepared. You know, tournament golf's always a little bit different than playing golf at home,” Scheffler, 28, said after tallying six birdies, including four on his last eight holes. “So, I tried to be as prepared as I could for some bumps in the road as I'm sure there always is starting the year. And this is a different place than I usually plan to start my year, so I think having an understanding that I may not be exactly where I want to be to start the year, but at the end of the day I'm here and playing some decent golf and overall I'm as prepared as I could be with the layoff.”
He had one bump in the road. That was it. By now he would be making his third start of the season were it not for the injury. Would we have been able to tell the difference? He looked pretty Scheffler-ish on a cloudy day on the Monterey Peninsula, particularly with his iron game in finding 16 greens in regulation despite finding only seven fairways.
He didn’t seem particularly pleased with the round, but, hey, the guy does have high standards. “ I felt like it could have been a lot better,” he said, “but overall, yeah, I've just got to remind myself to stay patient and did a good job of capitalizing on some opportunities there on the front nine, which was my back nine, and post a decent number for the day.”
After he’d finished, Rory McIlroy, signing autographs, asked if he could sign Scheffler’s right palm, the one he cut on a wine glass last month in the most famous ravioli-making incident in the western world.
Scheffler just laughed. Probably because he’s done giving his peers a hand.