About the only thing that is preventing Scotty Scheffler from a PGA Tour tournament victory is being arrested and going to jail. Considering this, the world's No.1 ranked golfer may be getting the torched passed on to him from former number one, Tiger Woods, who also had his run-in with the law back in the day, 2017, when he got arrested for a DUI in Jupiter, Florida. In addition, "bad boy of golf," John Daly was also arrested during a tournament in 2008, when he was found intoxicated outside of a Hooters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Louisville police tried to keep Scheffler from participating in his Round 2 outing at the PGA championship, as the 27-year-old was detained and arrested following a traffic incident, before arriving at the Valhalla golf course Friday morning.
“Hi is that the police? I’ve just seen a guy driving dangerously. I think you should come immediately” pic.twitter.com/b3ZxxgKhjN
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) May 17, 2024
Concerning all of the drama, Scheffler called the whole situation a "big misunderstanding." The golfer's attorney, Steve Romines, put out a statement to reporters regarding the incident that led to his client being arrested.
"He was going into Valhalla to work out," Romines stated. "He was getting ready for his tee time. [Police] were directing traffic. He held his credential out and was going in like they'd been instructed to."
The whole scene was pretty chaotic, since surrounding the area was heavy traffic, which was due to the unfortunate passing of a PGA Championship worker, John Mills, who tragically had been killed that morning around 5 am, when he was hit by a bus. This was the reason for all of the police directing the traffic flow, however, Scheffler was not made aware of the fatal accident that had happened earlier in the morning.
Jeff Darlington, a reporter at ESPN was the witness that took a video of Scheffler's arrest.
Here is video that I took of Scheffler being arrested: https://t.co/8UPZKvPCCf pic.twitter.com/9Tbp2tyrJh
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) May 17, 2024
To sum up his view of the events that ensued, it all started when Scheffler was trying to drive around the crash site towards the golf clubhouse. Darlington reported that a police officer then tried to stop Scheffler's vehicle, but the golfer either ignored it or didn't see, and continued driving towards the entrance. The officer, who has now been identified as Bryan Gillis, apparently then grabbed onto the side of Scheffler's SUV while it was moving forward. That is when Scheffler rolled down the window, which led to Gillis grabbing him and forcing him out of the vehicle; and later Darlington saw Scheffler in handcuffs being taken away.
Scheffler addressed this later in a message that he posted on Instagram.
"There was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions."
According to detective Gillis' side of the story, he, himself, was the one who was a victim of assault on a police officer, as he claimed he was knocked down when Scheffler drove the SUV.
The police report stated, "refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging detective Gillis to the ground."
The detective was taken to the hospital, and is saying that he suffered "pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee."
Detective Gillis bodycam footage of Scotty Scheffler incident released. pic.twitter.com/D1aR76jojq
— Shawn Ray (@sray001) May 17, 2024
The following charges were pinned on Scheffler: assault of a police officer-2nd degree (felony), criminal mischief-3rd degree, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic.
Scheffler talked about his time behind bars, "I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell, that was a first for me, that was apart of my warm up, I was just sitting there waiting. You know I started going through my warmup, I felt there was a chance I could still come out here and play."
Tiger Woods picking up Scottie Scheffler from the Louisville Police Department #freescottie pic.twitter.com/Ax6metdSyg
— RGF (@rgfray1) May 17, 2024
After getting his mugshot, Scheffler was seen coming back to the PGA Championship golf course, as he attempted to compartmentalize the previous events that took place.
Enjoy this clip of Scottie Scheffler walking on to Valhalla with Many Men playing in the background. pic.twitter.com/Wpt9EtapQJ
— Harrison (@Harrison954_) May 17, 2024
"I started going through my routine," Scheffler explained. "And I tried to get my heart rate down, as much as I could today. I still feel like my head is spinning a little bit. But I was fortunate to make it back out and play some golf."
That is to say, Scheffler had an impressive 2nd Round, shooting a 66, -5 under par, after a 67 on day one, -4, which makes the world's top golfer (-9) tied for fourth place halfway through the tournament, three strokes behind leader Alexander Schauffele (-12).
Did Scottie Scheffler just dap up the officers that arrested him? What a day..#freescottie
— RGF (@rgfray1) May 17, 2024
After his great outing, Scheffler commented on being able to keep his composure on the course, amid everything that had transpired a few hours prior.
"As far as best rounds of my career, I would say it was pretty good. I definitely never imagined ever going to jail, and I definitely never imagined going to jail the morning before one of my tee times for sure," he said.
Being ranked as the world's No.1 golfer, Scheffler has won four out of his last five starts, including a Masters win at Augusta in April. Notably, this was the second time Scheffler has received a green jacket, as he already had one in his closet from a 2022 victory.
A more exclusive club than Augusta National. pic.twitter.com/Iu4W2aqRKV
— Korked Bats (@korkedbats) May 17, 2024
