Scottie Scheffler arrives for PGA Championship second round after arrest
PGA Tour golfer and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has arrived at Valhalla Golf Club for the second round of the PGA Championship following his early Friday morning arrest. Scheffler was caught on camera entering the club shortly prior to his 10:08 a.m. ET tee time.
Scheffler was later booked on charges of assault of a police officer in the second degree, criminal mischief in the third degree, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic. Scheffler was then released and allowed to return to the course for the second round of the tournament.
Below is the video of Scheffler arriving.
Scheffler was attempting to enter Valhalla Golf Club early on Friday morning when there was a “pedestrian-involved fatality” causing a traffic jam. While other golfers entered the course around the traffic, Scheffler was stopped by police. Per ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, Scheffler continued driving despite being told by police to stop. Scheffler did not realize it was a police officer, per Darlington.
Darlington went into more depth on SportsCenter.
“Early morning here at Valhalla Golf Club, still very dark out, still rainy, there was an accident on the road just past the entrance to Valhalla Golf Club,” Darlington said on SportsCenter. “Traffic had been backed up and building. Scottie Scheffler tried to enter Valhalla Golf Club using a side median, at which point a police officer instructed him to stop.
“Scheffler attempted to continue to go. The police officer then attached himself to the side of Scheffler’s car. Scheffler stopped the vehicle as he turned into Valhalla Golf Club at the entrance, about 10-20 yards from the point at which the police officer first told him to stop.
“At that point, the police officer instructed Scheffler to get out of the car. There was probably 20-30 seconds that Scheffler sat in the car and did not move. He had rolled down the window. The police officer — when he rolled down the window, grabbed his arm and started pulling at it. Scheffler — I believe he reached inside, opened the car door, pulled Scheffler out, pushed him up against the car, immediately placed him in handcuffs. At which point, Scottie Scheffler, seeing me behind him, said, ‘can you help?’
“The police officers instructed me to step back. I instructed I was a member of the media. They walked Scottie Scheffler to the police car. A police officer turned to me at me and said ‘You need to get out of the way.’ He told me, ‘There’s nothing you can do.’ Scottie Scheffler is going to jail.”
Scheffler is currently the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world thanks to his current run on the Tour. After opening the first five events of the year with four top 10 finishes, Scheffler went on a tear. From early march through mid-April, Scheffler won four of his five starts. In that run, Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, PLAYERS Championship, the RBC Heritage and The Masters, the first major of the year. Scheffler’s only non-winner was a second place finish at the Houston Open.
Scheffler opened up the first round ot the PGA Championship with a score of 67 (-4) on Thursday. His round included a hole-out from 169 yards on the first hole of his tournament for an eagle.