Viktor Hovland joins Scottie Scheffler in suffering freak injury before 2025 opener

Viktor Hovland has joined Scottie Scheffler in suffering a freak injury over the Christmas holidays. 

Scheffler's agent confirmed on 27 December that the runaway World No.1 will miss the first event of the brand new PGA Tour season. 

The reigning Masters champion was serving up Christmas dinner for his family when he cut his right hand badly. 

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• PGA Tour schedule 2025

It meant that Scheffler had to have surgery to remove shards of glass and he will now play his first event in 2025 - at the earliest - at The American Express. 

Hovland appears to have suffered a bizarre injury too. 

The Norwegian superstar took to Instagram on Friday evening to post a photograph of an X-ray of his right foot. 

"Bed frame 1-0 me," he captioned the post. 

That prompted Collin Morikaway to reply: "I’m wrapping myself in some bubble wrap on the way to Hawaii." 

Hovland did not say whether the fracture will mean that he will have to miss the season opener too in Kapalua. 

The golfer had a poor 2024 season by his standards. 

He started the year by confirming that he split with his long-time coach Joe Mayo and was working hard on swing changes.

A series of missed cuts and poor performances followed, which included a complete meltdown at The Masters. 

His performances improved significantly, though, when he decided to go back to work with Mayo. 

Hovland's best result in a major came at the PGA Championship when he finished third behind champion Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau.

During the tournament, he revealed that he had considered not playing at all because of a lack of confidence. 

The 27-year-old has fallen to seventh in the OWGR from a career-high three in 2023. 

Hovland will be desperate to make 2025 a better year though considering he is likely to be crucial to Team Europe's bid to retain the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in September. 

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