LOUISVILLE, Ky. — World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was arrested by police after a traffic misunderstanding ahead of his second round at the 2024 PGA Championship. Scheffler was booked at 7:28 a.m ET, according to online records accessed by Golfweek. ESPN was first to report.
Scheffler is facing the following four charges: Assault in the second degree of a police officer, criminal mischief in the third degree, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic.
He has retained local attorneys for the case and has an arraignment scheduled for 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 21.
Scheffler was released from custody at 8:40 a.m. ET and arrived at the golf course at 9:15 a.m. ET. According to a PGA of America source on site, Scheffler was personally escorted to the club by an owner of Valhalla and made his 10:08 a.m. ET tee time.
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Jeff Darlington reported early Friday morning that Scheffler attempted to drive past a police officer into Valhalla Golf Club and that officer attempted to “attach himself to Scheffler’s car, and Scheffler then stopped his vehicle at the entrance to Valhalla.” The officer reportedly began to scream at Scheffler to get out of the car, and when the 27-year-old exited the car, he was shoved against the vehicle and placed in handcuffs. He was then detained in the back of a police car.
Here is video that I took of Scheffler being arrested: https://t.co/8UPZKvPCCf pic.twitter.com/9Tbp2tyrJh
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) May 17, 2024
“They told him to stop,” Darlington said in an appearance on ESPN. “When he didn’t stop, the police officer attached himself to the vehicle. Scheffler then traveled another 10 yards before stopping the car. The police officer then grabbed at his arm attempting to pull him out of the car before Scheffler eventually opened the door, at which point the police officer pulled Scheffler out of the car, pushed him up against the car and immediately placed him in handcuffs.”
In a statement provided to ESPN.com, Scheffler called it a “very chaotic situation” and said there was a “big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions.”
After a brief hiatus for the birth of his child, Scheffler returned to competition this week with a 4-under 67 on Thursday and sat T-12 on the leaderboard after the first round. So far this season Scheffler has four wins at the Masters, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship and RBC Heritage. In 10 starts this season, he has nine top 10s, with a worst finish of T-17.
This story will be updated. Golfweek’s David Dusek contributed to the report.
