Scottie Scheffler’s absence from The Sentry this weekend was fully taken advantage of by Hideki Matsuyama and there are now fresh question marks over when the world number one will return.
Scheffler missed The Sentry after sustaining a hand injury over Christmas.
At the time, Scheffler was said to be targeting a return at The American Express in a few weeks as his team played down fears over the seriousness of the injury.
However, Scheffler has now confirmed via his Instagram that he will indeed be pulling out of the American Express as well.
“After consulting with my medical team, I have made the decision to withdraw from next week’s American Express tournament to give my injury more time to heal. I am still hopeful to begin my 2025 season at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am,” Scheffler wrote.
Still, while Scheffler’s absence is a worry, golf analyst Rex Hoggard has explained why Scheffler missing the AMEX might not be too much to stress over.
Golf fans told not to worry about Scottie Scheffler missing The American Express Championship
Speaking on the latest episode of the Golf Channel Podcast, golf analyst Rex Hoggard got onto the subject of Scheffler and his return from injury.
And according to Hoggard – speaking prior to Scheffler’s announcement – it shouldn’t actually be a surprise to see Scheffler take even longer off.
“I do think he will play the American Express, by all accounts this is not a serious injury even though he did have to have surgery. I don’t even know if my concern level would even go up if he doesn’t commit to play the American Express,” Hoggard said.
“It’s not a signature event, we all know how much of a grind the season this new PGA Tour schedule can be, I can see a scenario where he doesn’t come back until Pebble which would be the next signature event he would play, and then LA and the on into the Florida swing, so I am not going to worry about it yet.
“The one thing that seems to be a constant when it comes to Scottie, outside of the machine like ball striking, is that he has been relatively healthy. This is a bit of an odd injury, this isn’t something you would sustain on the golf course, but until you see it in an event where you would fully expect him to play, which would be a signature event, or a major or a Players Championship, I don’t know that I would be very concerned if he doesn’t play Amex.”
Golf needs Scottie Scheffler back ASAP
While it was nice to see Hideki Matsuyama win this week and we saw Collin Morikawa roar into good form as well, the story of 2025 is players trying to better Scottie Scheffler.
On that note, it’s vital that we see Scheffler back on the course as soon as possible.
Indeed, it would have been interesting to see just how Scheffler might have done around the Hawaii course this weekend, given the low scores we saw across the field.
However, with Scheffler now confirmed to not be making The American Express, he simply has to be back for Pebble or alarm bells will start to ring.
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