Scottie Scheffler cracks up reporters ahead of The American Express

Scottie Scheffler had reporters chuckling away to themselves ahead of The American Express this week as he reflected on how one unforgettable moment over the Christmas dinner table changed the way he now approaches his off-season.

The World No.1 is making his first PGA Tour start of the 2026 season at La Quinta this week, more than 12 months on from the freak hand injury he suffered on Christmas Day 2024.

Scheffler unfortunately cut his right palm with a wine glass while attempting to make ravioli from scratch, an accident that required surgery to remove glass fragments and forced him to miss the opening events of the 2025 PGA Tour season before returning at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

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As GolfMagic reported at the time, Scheffler later described the incident as a “stupid” moment. 

In hindsight, however, the setback did little more than briefly delay what became another dominant run at the top of the men’s game.

Scheffler went on to win six times on the PGA Tour in 2025, including more major victories at the US PGA Championship and The Open. 

Those two major wins moved him to within one leg of the career grand slam, which he can now go on to complete at the 2026 US Open on his 30th birthday in June.

Speaking ahead of The American Express, Scheffler said he “did his best” to stay out of the kitchen during the most recent off-season while spending time with wife Meredith and their young son Bennett — a comment that drew laughs from reporters given what unfolded little more than a year earlier.

Rather than risking another culinary adventure, Scheffler said he largely went about his business differently, balancing family time over Christmas and New Year with a familiar focus on practice and preparation.

An ominous message for the rest of the field, given Scheffler remains a runaway World No.1 and widely regarded as the best player on the planet.

"I love practicing, I love playing, I love competing out here," Scheffler told reporters ahead of The American Express, his first tournament of 2026.

"When I'm getting ready to come back out and play, when I look at the off-season when I'm practicing, I'm thinking about coming out here and competing and preparing for that. I don't think about really much other than that. I'm just trying to get ready to come out here and play and compete and do my best."

Scheffler arrives at La Quinta as the red-hot 5/2 favourite to win his first American Express title and is also chasing a landmark 20th PGA Tour victory this week.

A win on Sunday would see him draw level with the likes of Hale Irwin and Greg Norman in a tie for 35th on the all-time PGA Tour wins list.

The American Express marks Scheffler’s 141st consecutive week as World No.1 and his 176th week in total at the summit of the Official World Golf Ranking. 

He currently sits third on the all-time list, trailing only Greg Norman (331 weeks) and Tiger Woods, who holds the record with 683 weeks at No.1.