LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Chaos ensued at the PGA Championship on a bizarre morning Friday with Scottie Scheffler arrested while trying to drive into the entrance of Valhalla Golf Club to prepare for his second round.
Then, hours after Scheffler was handcuffed, taken to Louisville Metro Corrections to be charged, processed and released, the No. 1 ranked player in the world went out and shot a stunning 5-under-par 66 to stand just two shots out of the lead t 9-under par for the tournament.
“I feel like my head is still spinning,’’ Scheffler said after his round. “I can’t really explain what happened this morning. I was pretty rattled to say the least. I was never angry. I was just in shock. I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me.
“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. I was sitting there waiting to kind of go in and I asked him, ‘Hey, excuse me, can you just come hang out with me for a few minutes so I can calm down?’
“He came out and we had a nice chat, and then the officers inside the jail were tremendous. A couple of them made some jokes I think when they figured out who I was and what happened and how I ended up there.
“This one older officer looked at me as I was doing my fingerprints or whatever, and he looks at me and he goes, ‘So, do you want the full experience today?’ I kind of looked at him, and I was like, ‘I don’t know how to answer that.’ He’s like, ‘Come on, man, you want a sandwich?’ I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll take a sandwich.’ I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet.’ ’’
The Scheffler incident occurred about an hour after John Mills, who was working for a PGA Championship vendor and trying to cross the street, was struck and killed by a shuttle bus in front of the club entrance.
That caused police to restrict passage of vehicles in the area.
Having no idea about that earlier incident, Scheffler, according to Louisville Police, continued to drive into the club entrance after being told to stop.
According to the police report, the officer who tried to stop Scheffler was identified as Det. Bryan Gillis.
“Subject refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground,” the report states.
“When they got me out of the car, it was very chaotic and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m just trying to get to my tee time,’ ’’ Scheffler said after his round. “Things escalated from there. I did numerous apologies and whatever … it was chaotic, it’s dark, it was raining, there’s a lot of stuff going on. They had just had an accident. I didn’t know what it happened at the time, other than there was an accident. I didn’t know that it was fatal.
“My sympathies go out to the family of Mr. Mills. I can’t imagine what they’re going through this morning. My heart goes out to the family.’’
Once Scheffler stopped his car, the officer pulled him from the courtesy vehicle he was driving, pushed him up against it and cuffed him.
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Once he was driven to the station, Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic.
The PGA of America delayed tee times for 80 minutes as a result of the death of the pedestrian, which pushed Scheffler’s original 8:48 a.m. tee time to 10:08.
Scheffler was booked at 7:28 a.m., at which time a mug shot was taken in which he wears a police-issue orange V-neck jail shirt..
At 8:40 a.m., he was released from custody.
And, at 9:12 a.m., Scheffler arrived to Valhalla, driven by back Range Rover SUV.
After eating a quick breakfast in player dining, Scheffler arrived to the practice area at 9:37 a.m. and was greeted by fellow players, including Rickie Fowler, who gave him a fist bump.
When he walked to the 10th tee for the first hole of his second round, massive crowds enveloped the teeing area and lined the fairway chanting his name.
“Scottie, Scottie, Scottie.’’
“We love you, Scottie.’’
There were even, “Free Scottie’’ chants that broke out.
The galleries were massive, more befitting for a Sunday afternoon final pairing than a miserable and rainy Friday morning second round.
“The fans were tremendous today,’’ Scheffler said. “I felt like they were cheering extra loud for me today. I know sometimes you can’t really see it on my face, but I really do enjoy playing in front of the fans. The support I’ve been getting the last few months out here has been tremendous, and I’m really grateful for it.’’
Scheffler, true to his flat-line temperament on the golf course, outwardly appeared to be completely unaffected by what had to be an utterly rattling experience.
The way he acted, chatted with his playing partners, reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and reigning British Open champ Brian Harman, and the way he played, you would have had no idea anything out of the ordinary had happened with Scheffler on Friday.
He hit his first tee shot into the right rough, laid up into the fairway with an iron and stuffed his third shot to inside three feet for a tap-in birdie on the par-5 10th, his first hole.
Scheffler would make the turn in 3-under par with a birdie on No. 18, another par-5, and followed that with birdies on Nos. 2 and 4 to get to 8-under par, one shot behind Xander Schauffele’s lead at that moment.
That Scheffler finished the day at 9-under par, two shots behind leader Collin Morikawa at the time he completed his round, was a remarkable performance on what was a remarkable day.
“As far as best rounds of my career, I would say it was pretty good,’’ Scheffler said. “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.
“It was nice to be able to get inside the ropes and do what I love to do. I love competing out here on tour, I love playing in major championships. I’ve kept myself in the tournament now with a pretty chaotic day.’’
