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Question: What do you get when you cross Scottie Scheffler, homemade ravioli and Christmas Day?
Answer: An extended spell on the sidelines for the world No.1.
Two-time Masters champion Scheffler missed the start of the 2025 season after injuring his hand in a freak accident whilst making dinner for his family on December 25.
Exactly what happened is unknown but we do know is that he somehow ‘punctured’ the palm of his right hand and ended up with embedded glass fragments, which required surgery.
Ouch!
Of course, Scheffler is hardly the first golfer to have done himself a mischief in unusual circumstances. Here are some of the (many) others…
Rory McIlroy
The four-time major winner missed the defence of his Open title at St Andrews in 2015 after rupturing his left ankle ligaments playing football with friends. He returned to action six weeks later at the US PGA Championship.
Greg Norman
The now former LIV CEO almost lost his left hand to a chainsaw whilst trimming tree branches back in 2014. “Working with a chainsaw, ALWAYS be respectful of the unexpected,” he later tweeted from hospital. “I was one lucky man today. Damaged but not down & out. Still have left hand.”
John Daly
During the 2007 Honda Classic, a female spectator jumped in front of Daly to take his picture, causing the two-time major champ to hit behind the ball, fracturing two ribs and separating his right shoulder. For most of the decade that followed, the ‘Wild Thing’ pursued the PGA Tour for damages, claiming that the negatively impacted his career for the rest of that season and many years thereafter.
• The most golf-made US Presidents of all time
Jose Maria Olazabal
After shooting a five-over-par 75 in the first round of the 1999 US Open at Pinehurst, the Spaniard punched a wall in his hotel room and broke a bone in his hand, forcing him to withdraw from the tournament.
Colin Montgomerie
Monty was forced out of the 2003 Open at Royal St George’s in the opening round after a freak hand injury caused by tripping over a step at breakfast. “I couldn’t believe it was raining and as I looked up I tripped over a step and fell nastily,” he said. His hand was swollen, but nothing was broken.
Oliver Wilson
The 2008 Ryder Cup player was forced out of the 2013 Dubai Desert Classic. Why? Because he broke his wrist after slipping to avoid what he called on Twitter a ‘deadly snowball’.
Miguel Angel Jimenez
The Spaniard was skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Spain in late 2012 when he broke his right leg in a fall. “I lost control and fell,” Jiménez said. “I felt a huge stab of pain and I knew straight away I had broken something.”
Thomas Levet
After winning his home national open in 2011, Frenchman Levet jumped in the lake by the 18th hole at Le Golf National and broke his shin. Luckily, he was back in action just eight weeks later.
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Graeme McDowell
So, G-Mac sleepwalks. At least that’s how he explained a freak hand injury in China, where he jammed it in a door. “I woke up out of this dream, standing in a hotel-room door, in my boxer shorts, and three seconds later I had the most searing pain in my right hand,” he said. “I have no idea what happened.”
Richard Boxall
During the third round of the 1991 Open, Boxall broke his leg while just two strokes off the 36-hole lead. “I hit 1-iron and as I did there was this noise like a sack of potatoes splitting and I screamed and collapsed,” he said.
Paul Casey
The Englishman dislocated his right shoulder while snowboarding in Colorado in January 2012. He didn’t need surgery but did end up being sidelined for the first two months of the year.
Lucas Glover
The 2009 US Open winner was forced to pull out of the season-opening Tournament of Champions in 2012 after suffering a sprained knee while paddleboarding in the ocean.
Sandy Lyle
The Scot quit the 2008 Open after just ten holes as wind and heavy rain at Royal Birkdale took its toll. Lyle cited ‘cold hands’ as the reason after being 11-over-par after nine holes. Peter Dawson was unimpressed, saying: “It is disappointing. I have to say professional golfers should complete a round. That is what they are paid to do.”
Ernie Els
In 2005, Els was on a tube being towed by a speedboat in the Mediterranean and ended up rupturing ligaments in his left knee. As a result, the Big Easy was ruled out for the rest of the season.
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