Golf news: Scheffler speaks on injury status, Tiger re-ups sponsorship deal, JT joins exclusive club

It was an exciting weekend in the world of golf.

With a one-shot win at the DP World Tour's Dubai Desert Classic, LIV Golf star Tyrrell Hatton made his way back into the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since 2021, jumping from 17th to 8th. Making his 2025 debut, Rory McIlroy failed to win the tourney for a third consecutive year but still had a solid outing, finishing in a tie for fourth.

The PGA Tour Champions held its first tournament of the year with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Course in Hawaii. And in notching his seventh win on the senior circuit by shooting 18-under over 54 holes, Ernie Els now has 80 worldwide victories in his professional career.

Then, of course, the PGA Tour kicked off its California swing in La Quinta with Sepp Straka taking a two-stroke victory at The American Express, thus putting himself in second place in the FedEx Cup standings. Hideki Matsuyama, who won The Sentry to kick off the 2025 season, remains in the top spot.

Justin Thomas finished in solo second at PGA West, marking his best finish since winning the 2022 PGA Championship. And in doing so, he joined a highly exclusive club, which is where we'll kick things off.

Justin Thomas is just the 13th player in PGA Tour history to surpass $60 million in official on-course earnings

Collecting $959,200 for his second-place finish at The American Express, Thomas has become just the 13th player in PGA Tour history to surpass $60 million in on-course earnings.

From an official standpoint, JT now ranks 10th on the official PGA Tour career money list, as he just surpassed Matt Kuchar, who collected $27,236 at The American Express for his T-43 finish.

But as Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson were removed from the list after making the jump to LIV Golf, which doesn't change the money they won while still with the PGA Tour or the money they've made in majors since joining the Saudi-backed circuit, Thomas technically ranks 12th.

It should be noted that the figures shown below do not include money from unofficial tournaments, FedEx Cup/Tour Championship bonuses, or the Player Impact Program.

Scottie Scheffler opens up about his injury and his status for Pebble Beach

While he had plans to play the season opener at The Sentry and The American Express, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has yet to make his 2025 debut after puncturing the palm of his right hand while preparing dinner at his home on Christmas Day, which required surgery.

Speaking with the media on Monday to promote March's Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he's the defending champion, Scheffler opened up about his injury in detail for the first time since it occurred.

And while he dodged a question about when he got back to hitting balls following his surgery, leading some to speculate that maybe he hasn't done so yet, he did say that he took a full two weeks off from anything golf-related after the procedure, saying he only worked out his lower body.

Naturally, Scheffler was asked when he would return, and he said there's a chance it could happen next week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the second Signature Event on the PGA Tour schedule.

"Feeling good, everything went well with the surgery," said Scheffler. "Body feels pretty good. Still making decisions on schedule going forward. Should know next few days to a week whether I'll be playing next week. Everything's on schedule."

The deadline to commit to Pebble Beach is on Friday.

Tiger Woods will continue his ball sponsorship with Bridgestone Golf

While it's not yet known when Tiger Woods will make his 2025 debut — outside of the TGL, that is — we do know that he'll still be playing balls from Bridgestone Golf when he does.

The 82-time PGA Tour winner announced on Monday that he's re-upped his contract with Bridgestone, with whom he first signed in 2016 but has been connected to since his record-setting 2000 campaign.

"I have played a ball manufactured by Bridgestone since my memorable 2000 season. Since the beginning, Bridgestone has continued to innovate and lead the golf ball category in terms of technology, performance, and consistency,” Woods said in a statement. "They are great at what they do, and I look forward to continuing to work with their R&D team to design industry-leading golf balls."

Woods will continue to use the TOUR B X ball, the first edition of which was released in 2017.