Scottie Scheffler has hit an unfortunate stumbling block at the start of the 2025 season after suffering a bizarre injury.
Scheffler withdrew from The Sentry after cutting his hand on glass during the festive period, with Hideki Matsuyama coming out on top at Kapalua.
And 13-time PGA Tour winner Scheffler has now withdrawn from The American Express, which gets underway in California next week.
Scheffler had continued on from his extraordinary 2024 season in the best way possible, having won the Hero World Challenge last month.
He won seven times last time out, emerging victorious at the likes of the Masters, The Players Championship and the Tour Championship.
Scottie Scheffler predicted to win eight PGA Tour titles in 2025
Scheffler unsurprisingly won the 2024 PGA Tour Player of the Year award for his efforts, joining Tiger Woods as the only player to clinch the honour in three consecutive seasons.
Peter Finch has now made a comparison between the duo, having predicted how many wins Scheffler can achieve in 2025.
“I reckon he’ll do eight this year,” Finch said on The Rough Cut Golf Podcast. “It always happens when people come out and play such amazing golf, it raises everyone else’s game.
“Unlike Tiger, when Tiger came out and he was such a dominating force, there was such a bigger gap between Tiger and everyone else, physically, mentally, technically. He was by far a different animal.
“I kind of don’t get the sense that Scottie, even though he is playing some of the best golf, like Tiger-era golf as far as ball striking, I don’t feel like the gap is as big between him and his contemporaries. You will see more people breaking through but he is still way too good not to have eight wins, I’d say.”
Which players can challenge Scottie Scheffler on the 2025 PGA Tour?
Despite his recent injury, Scheffler is undoubtedly still the man to beat as the 2025 PGA Tour season gets underway.
The world number one is expected to make a full recovery, although may need a little bit of time to get back into the full swing of things.
The likes of world numbers two and three Schauffele and Rory McIlroy respectively will be eager to knock him off his perch, but is much easier said than done.
Numbers four and five Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama respectively meanwhile may be quietly confident of putting the main man under real pressure after their impressive displays at The Sentry.
Scheffler will take some beating in 2025, although it does remain to be seen if he can reach the phenomenal heights he hit last time out.
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