Scottie Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked golfer, was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car about two hours before his scheduled second-round tee time at the PGA Championship, held at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.
Scheffler was detained after trying to drive around a traffic diversion created by police cars. Early Friday morning, a shuttle bus struck and killed a pedestrian outside Valhalla Golf Club, creating a heavy police presence around the club as golfers started to arrive for their rounds.
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The reigning Masters champion attempted to drive by a police officer, who then tried to attach himself to the car, according to ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, who witnessed the incident. Scheffler asked Darlington for his help, and the officer told Darlington, “Right now, he’s going to jail and ain’t nothing you can do about it.”
The second round was scheduled to start at 7:15 a.m. ET, but the PGA of America announced all tee times would be delayed by eighty minutes as a result of the pedestrian fatality. Scheffler was originally scheduled to tee off at 8:48 a.m. ET. A heavy favorite to win the PGA Championship ahead of the event, Scheffler shot a 67 on Thursday and was tied for 12th ahead of Friday’s round.
Scheffler has been the most dominant golfer on the planet over the past two years with nearly twice as many World Golf Ranking points as No. 2, Rory McIlroy. Scheffler has nine top 10 finishes in 10 events in 2024, including four wins and $18.7 million in prize money—Wyndham Clark ranks second at $9.2 million.
Scheffler ranked 27th in Sportico’s look at the world’s 100 highest paid athletes of 2023 with $53.2 million, including $19 million from endorsements. His partners include Nike, TaylorMade, Rolex, Veritex, NetJets and Golf Forever.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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