World No. 1 player Scottie Scheffler was arrested early Friday morning following an incident with an officer outside Valhalla Golf Club, site of the PGA Championship. Scheffler was not involved in a separate traffic incident outside Valhalla that ended in a pedestrian fatality.
Scheffler was charged with second degree assault of police officer, criminal mischief third degree, reckless driving, disregard signals from officer directing traffic.
Scheffler was released from custody at 8:40 a.m.. Per ESPN, he will arrive back at Valhalla in time for his 10:08 a.m. tee time.
The incident was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Darlington.
Breaking News: World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler has been detained by police in handcuffs after a misunderstanding with traffic flow led to his attempt to drive past a police officer into Valhalla Golf Club. The police officer attempted to attach himself to Scheffler’s car,…
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) May 17, 2024
“Breaking News: World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler has been detained by police in handcuffs after a misunderstanding with traffic flow led to his attempt to drive past a police officer into Valhalla Golf Club,” Darlington wrote on X. “The police officer attempted to attach himself to Scheffler’s car, and Scheffler then stopped his vehicle at the entrance to Valhalla. The police officer then began to scream at Scheffler to get out of the car. When Scheffler exited the vehicle, the officer shoved Scheffler against the car and immediately placed him in handcuffs. He is now being detained in the back of a police car.”
Darlington indicated that Scheffler drove about “10 to 20 yards” after being told to stop. Darlington reported that Scheffler tried to explain that he did not know the man telling him to stop was a police officer. Darlington said that Scheffler did not raise his voice during the confrontation.
According to Darlington, the situation escalated rapidly, and Scheffler was loaded into a police vehicle. Darlington reported that a police officer told him, “There’s nothing you can do, he’s going to jail.” Darlington later reported that an officer asked him to identify Scheffler.
Darlington reported on the incident on SportsCenter shortly before 7 a.m.
Darlington later posted video of the incident:
Scheffler was later booked at 7:28 a.m., though no charges have yet been posted.
The start of the second round of the PGA Championship has been delayed by 80 minutes due to an accident outside Valhalla Golf Club that involved a pedestrian fatality, according to Louisville police. In the rainy predawn hours, traffic around Valhalla was at a standstill. Players were permitted to enter the course to prepare for the tournament.
Scheffler was slated to tee off at 8:48 a.m., but was last publicly seen in the custody of police being driven away from Valhalla Golf Club.
The PGA of America announced that the tournament will resume at 8:35 a.m., a delay of an hour and 20 minutes.
Source Agencies
