Scottie Scheffler 'had a nice chat' with arresting officer before trip to jail

To say it was an interesting morning for Scottie Scheffler would be an understatement. Hours before his scheduled tee time at the PGA Championship, police officers took him into custody after he attempted to go around a fatal crash on his way in to Valhalla Golf Club.

As he headed to jail, though, he said one of the arresting officers helped settle his nerves a bit.

“I was pretty rattled, to say the least,” Scheffler said after shooting a 66 during Friday’s second round. “The officer that took me to the jail was very kind, he was great. We had a nice chat in the car, that kind of helped calm me down and I was sitting there waiting to kind of go in, I asked him, I was like, ‘Hey, excuse me. Can you just come hang out with me for a few minutes so I can calm down?’ And I was never, you know, angry. I was just in shock and I think my body was just — I was shaking the whole time.

“I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me and he came out and we had a nice chat.”

Scheffler – the world No. 1 and reigning Masters champion – later got his release from jail on his own recognizance and made his 10:08 a.m. ET tee time after play was delayed due to the traffic issues. But as he went through the process, he said the officers treated him well and some started to notice who he was.

Then, he said, one of them offered him something he needed: breakfast.

“The officers inside the jail were tremendous,” Scheffler said. “Couple of them made some jokes. I think when they figured out who I was and what happened and how I ended up there, they — this one older officer looked at me as I was doing like my fingerprints or whatever, and he looks at me, he goes, ‘So do you want the full experience today?’ And I kind of looked at him, I was like, ‘I don’t know how to answer that.’ He’s like, ‘Come on man, you want a sandwich?’ And I was like, ‘Sure, like, I’ll take a sandwich.’ I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet.

“I mean, they were really kind. I’m grateful that we have such strong police and they’re our protectors out there. Like I said, we just got into a chaotic situation this morning. That’s really all it was.”

Scottie Scheffler is facing four charges: 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. An arraignment is set for Tuesday.