A ravioli incident is keeping world no.1 Scottie Scheffler from significant earnings to start the year.
Scottie Scheffler (hand) is Missing out on Millions
Scottie Scheffler had to have hand surgery in late December. Beyond the medical bills, what is it costing him?
Coming off one of the greatest seasons the PGA Tour has ever seen, it’s important to take inventory of what he did and how comparable it is to a few of Tiger Woods’ best seasons.
Scheffler won 9 events in 2024, 7 of which were Official PGA Tour events, 1 of which was the Olympics, and the last being the Hero World Challenge. Heading into 2025 with higher expectations than anyone in the field, Scottie will have to overcome some early adversity—how will his hand injury affect his potential this season?
ALSO READ: It’s Just Scottie’s World and We’re Just Living In It
What happened to Scottie’s Hand?
Why has Scottie sat out of tournaments this year?
According to Scheffler, his hand required surgery after breaking glass while making ravioli with his family on Christmas. It only makes sense that Scheffler, whose persona is overwhelmingly wholesome, would hurt himself cooking for his family. No bar fight, no reckless activity, just good old-fashioned family time.
Let’s Talk the Money Scheffler Will Miss Out On
While the Schefflers’ financials are more than secure (flourishing, you could say), let’s take a look at the bag he’s missed out on by forgoing the first four tournaments of the year.
Before winning the Hero World Challenge, where Scottie earned $1,000,000, he earned an average of $3,276,176 per tournament he started in 2024. Yes, this takes into account the massive purse from the Tour Championship, but still… This means each tournament Scottie sits out, he misses out on serious money.
With an average final position of 8th place (7.7 to be exact) in 2024, let’s see how much Scottie would have raked up if he averaged similar success:
The Sentry: $630,000
SONY Open: $283,837
American Express: $267,300
Farmers Insurance: $290,675
Estimated Potential Earnings: $1,471,812
While these numbers are rough due to ties and estimates (and of course, hypothetical performance), that wouldn’t be a bad January for most of us.
Scheffler’s Recovery Timeline
Scheffler seems to be mostly confident in his recovery, saying “overall recovery is going well, everything is on schedule so we’ll see, but feeling good.”
He has still yet to decide if he’s a go for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Scottie has made clear he doesn’t want to “rush back just to rush back,” but if he doesn’t rush back, we’ll see his missed potential earnings inch closer to $2,000,000. We’ll keep an eye on his status as he nears the deadline to commit to the event (Friday evening, January 24th).
And if you’re cooking ravioli this week, stay safe out there. While it may not cost you $2M, a hand injury could cause you enough trouble.
