The PGA Championship was thrown into chaos early Friday morning after Scottie Scheffler was arrested by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department just outside Valhalla’s gates.
In attempting to drive around a roadblock set up in response to a fatal accident involving a shuttle bus and PGA Championship vendor, Scheffler was stopped by police, removed from his car, handcuffed and driven away in a police car.
He was later released and arrived to Valhalla with about an hour to go before his second round tee time. Shortly after arriving on the grounds and beginning his warm-up on the driving range before his round, Scheffler (or his team) released a statement on his Instagram page.
“This morning, I was proceeding as directed by police officers,” Scheffler said in the statement. “It was a very chaotic situation, understandably so considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier, and there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions. I’m hopeful to put this to the side and focus on golf today.
“Of course, all of us involved in the tournament express our deepest sympathies to the family of the man who passed away in the earlier accident this morning. It truly puts everything in perspective.”
Earlier Friday morning, Scheffler was driving a marked PGA Championship courtesy vehicle, which are typically allowed through traffic blocks that are often set up around golf tournaments, when the incident occurred.
ESPN Reporter Jeff Darlington witnessed the arrest and reported a police officer tried to stop Scheffler, but he kept driving until the officer “attached himself” to Scheffler’s car to get him to stop.
The officer then pulled Scheffler from his car and handcuffed him as Darlington began filming the encounter. Scheffler could be heard asking Darlington, “Can you please help me?” as he was being led away by officers. He was driven away in the back of a police car.
Scheffler was booked on four charges, including assault of a police officer, by the Louisville Metro PD around 7:30 a.m., but was released about an hour later and arrived at Valhalla just after 9 a.m., about an hour before his scheduled second-round tee time of 10:08 a.m. Tee times at the tournament were delayed an hour and 20 minutes due to the earlier fatality.
Scheffler’s arrest led to confusion over whether the World No. 1 would be able to continue the tournament after shooting a four-under 67 on Thursday.
He arrived well before for tee time and warmed up on the range. Scheffler birdied his first hole — the par-5 10th hole — to move to five under for the tournament.
