The golf world woke up to shocking reports that Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 ranked player in the world, had been arrested early on Friday morning ahead of Round Two of the PGA Championship. After his round had concluded, he offered some details into what exactly happened that led to getting arrested.
Scheffler, who is coming off four victories in his last five events, including the 2024 Masters last month, found his PGA Championship in jeopardy after getting arrested at approximately 6:01 ET Friday morning.
On his way to Valhalla Golf Club, Scheffler was reportedly stopped by members of the Louisville Police Department after disobeying special traffic directions following a fatal death near the course, which by all reports made things quite hectic in terms of traffic around the course.
The officer in question who stopped Scheffler felt that Scheffler was not complying, which led to him ultimately being arrested briefly. Scheffler was charged with felony assault on a police officer, which stemmed from the officer claiming that Scheffler dragged him with his car, and reckless driving outside of a PGA championship event.
Despite this, he was released from jail quickly, which allowed him to still make it back to the course on time for his second round. And he certainly didn’t seem all that bothered by the extremely bizarre situation when it came time to play.
Scheffler was excellent as usual on Friday, finishing his round at five-under-par, nine-under-par for the tournament which put him in a tie for third once his round ended.
Scottie Scheffler birdies 3 of the last 5 holes!#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/8isjEJrXw3
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 17, 2024
On any other day, the questions after his round would have been about his performance on the course. But given how shocking his arrest was, many reporters naturally wanted to hear about some of the details of his incident.
Scheffler obviously couldn’t speak about everything that went down considering he is facing numerous charges at the moment for the incident. But he did offer some more vague comments that helped clear things up.
He first started by offering his condolences to the family of the person killed in the accident earlier in the day.
“My sympathies go out to the family of Mr. Mills,” said Scheffler. “I can’t imagine what they are going through this morning. One day he is heading to the golf course to watch a tournament. And the next he is trying to cross the street and he is no longer with us My heart goes out to them.”
Later, he discussed his arrest, calling it a “chaotic situation with a big misunderstanding”.
“My situation will get handled,” said Scheffler. “It was a chaotic situation with a big misunderstanding. I feel like my head is still spinning. I can’t really explain what happened this morning. I did do some stretching in a jail cell, which was a first for me. I was fortunate to get out and still play some golf today.”
Scottie Scheffler's entire post-round interview from Friday at the PGA Championship. pic.twitter.com/kRdecxIZoz
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) May 17, 2024
When asked whether he ever considered missing out on the remainder of the tournament due to this incident, Scheffler naturally said that it never even crossed his mind, which you would expect from one of the most elite golfers in the world.
It’s fairly obvious as to why Scheffler couldn’t explain more about the situation. But hopefully, he can move past this and play without much more controversy for the remainder of the PGA Championship.
