World No.1 Scottie Scheffler was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer as he made his way towards Valhalla for the start of the PGA Championship second round on Friday.
Following the death of a pedestrian outside of Valhalla Golf Club at around 5am which caused Shelbyville Road to be closed in both directions, there was an increased police presence in order to help direct traffic and help players and officials reach the club safely.
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,…May 17, 2024
Yet, shortly after 6am ET, Scheffler was involved in what he called "a big misunderstanding" regarding traffic flow instructions and was initially detained by police before being put in handcuffs and taken away to Louisville police station.
According to ESPN's NFL reporter, Jeff Darlington, Scheffler "attempted to drive past a police officer into Valhalla Golf Club" leading the law enforcer to attempt to "attach himself to Scheffler’s car."
Darlington continued: "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.
Here is @JeffDarlington describing the Scottie Scheffler incident on @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/z88D0HBMpDMay 17, 2024
"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."
Further images posted on social media showed Scheffler being placed into the back of a police car in the early hours of the morning.
One clip showed a police officer telling reporter, Daniel Hussey that Scheffler was "going to jail" as the pro golfer was being led away by a couple of other officers.
“The police officers around the patrol car had no idea he was Scottie Scheffler,’’ Darlington said on ESPN.
From the Scottie Scheffler police report: the arresting officer, Bryan Gillis, says that Scheffler disobeyed his orders and then dragged him to the ground with his car causing injuries to the officer and his clothing. pic.twitter.com/oh5eOT0ZuYMay 17, 2024
Booked at 7:28am local time, Scheffler was charged with 'second-degree assault of a police office, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic.'
The Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections, who posted a mugshot of the 27-year-old, released Scheffler at 8.40am. He is now due to appear in court on Tuesday, May 21 at 9am.
🚨👨⚖️🏌🏻♂️ #ARRAIGNMENT — World #1 Scottie Scheffler is scheduled to appear in court next week @SchefflerFans pic.twitter.com/VlnFlqEC7HMay 17, 2024
With the second round delayed by almost 90 minutes for all players due to the aforementioned fatality, Scheffler left jail ahead of his adjusted start time and was taken to the course by one of Valhalla's co-owners, Jimmy Kirchdorfer.
His participation in the second men's Major of the year was in doubt for a brief period with no word on what the 27-year-old was planning to do, but Scheffler arrived around an hour before his rescheduled 10:08am tee time alongside Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark, going on to release a statement about the incident from his point of view.
The American began his PGA Championship with a first round of four-under that featured an outrageous hole-out eagle on the first. And - despite his Friday-morning arrest - Scheffler did not appear too shaken up during the early stages of round two, rolling in a long birdie putt and moving on to five-under.
Just days earlier, Scheffler and wife Meredith had become parents for the first time when their son, Bennett was born.
