Elite field opens season at The Sentry, with a notable absence

Will Scottie Scheffler continue his extended run of excellence into 2025?

The answer to that question will have to be put on hold.

The 2025 PGA Tour season begins Thursday at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, Hawaii, as 60 players tee off at The Sentry. The field is reserved for the top 50 players from last year's FedEx Cup race plus anyone who won a tournament throughout the year.

World No 1 Scheffler undoubtedly qualifies under those criteria, but according to a statement from his manager, he suffered a puncture wound from a broken glass while cooking Christmas Day dinner. He needed surgery to remove fragments of the glass from the palm of his right hand.

Scheffler withdrew from The Sentry and is questionable for The American Express in two weeks' time.

"It's a huge bummer. I hope he's OK," Xander Schauffele said Tuesday. "... I didn't feel, like, too comfortable texting him. It's weird, because we're competitors, but at the same time he's such a nice guy, him and (his wife Meredith). I just hope he's fine. We're a lot better off with him here in Hawaii than not, so hopefully he gets a full recovery and he's fine."

Schauffele, the World No 2, will be the main attraction in Hawaii with Northern Ireland star Rory McIlroy also opting to skip the event.

Schauffele is coming off a breakthrough season that saw him win his first two majors, the PGA Championship and the Open Championship. He did not rest on his laurels during his offseason, saying his wedge play and short game, particularly around the greens, needed work.

"My wedge play sucked," he said. "It was really bad. Really, really bad. Golf is tough. ... It's something I'm trying to work on, still working on it now, still trying to figure it out, get the right feel for it."

Schauffele will play the first two rounds with Wyndham Clark and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg. Other notables in the field include Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalatoris, Tony Finau, Max Homa and Justin Thomas.

Norway's Viktor Hovland said he will try to play after a freak accident of his own. He explained to a golf website in his home country that he broke his right little toe getting out of his hotel bed in the middle of the night. As of Wednesday, Hovland was still officially in the field.

There were 15 first-time winners last season who are in this week's field, including some up-and-comers like 2024 Rookie of the Year Nick Dunlap, who became the first amateur to win on tour since Phil Mickelson (1991) when he prevailed at The American Express last January.

Dunlap, who played at the University of Alabama at the time, turned pro and went on to add a second victory at the Barracuda Championship.

"Huge," Dunlap, 21, said of his second win. "Not only to just validate that first win a little bit, but also for (qualifying for) the playoffs as well."

Chris Kirk is the defending champion. Thomas won The Sentry in 2017 and 2020, and Schauffele did so in 2019.