MONTREAL — Scottie Scheffler’s father was involved in an altercation with a vulgar fan on Saturday at the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club before Scheffler’s caddie — and, shortly thereafter, the police — helped separate the two.
The incident began before Scheffler hit his approach shot on the 16th hole during Saturday afternoon’s alternate-shot match. As Scheffler and his partner Russell Henley walked towards their drives alongside their opponents, Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im, a fan to the right of the fairway, near hospitality tents, could be heard by a GOLF reporter yelling vulgar remarks at Scheffler and his wife, Meredith, who was also with the group, as was Scheffler’s dad, Scott.
At that point, the elder Scheffler peeled off and stepped across a fan rope to confront the man before intervening officers were assigned to the golfers and Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, who was still carrying Scheffler’s bag. The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig reported on social media that Scott Scheffler said the man was escorted from the course. An officer would only confirm to a GOLF.com reporter that an incident had occurred.
Shortly after the altercation, Scheffler hit his approach shot, and minutes later he closed out the match with a 2-foot, 8-inch putt for par. His parents declined to talk to a GOLF reporter specifically about the incident, and Scheffler was not part of the post-round press conference.
Henley, however, was, and he was asked whether he or Scheffler were distracted by what had happened.
“No, not really,” he said. “Once it happened, we just kind of refocused and got back in it.”
The incident was part of a rollercoaster match that only grew more heated as the day progressed. Scheffler and Henley fell 3 down on the front nine and trailed for the first 11 holes in their match before taking a 1-up lead on the 14th hole. On 15, Im hit his group’s tee shot into the water left of the fairway, and Scheffler appeared to be debating with Im and Matsuyama about where the ball would be dropped ahead of their third shot. After the discussion was settled, Scheffler picked up the club of one of the International players and shoved it back into that player’s bag.
When asked afterward whether there was an issue with the drop, Henley said he didn’t know. At the time, he was preparing to hit his group’s second shot, after Scheffler’s tee shot.
“I wasn’t over there,” Henley said. “I think Scottie was kind of handling it, but it looked like they came to an agreement. So I’m not sure.”
After the match finished on the 16th green, Scheffler enthusiastically embraced his American teammates, quickly shook hands with Im and Matsuyama and then continued to celebrate.
The victory helped give his American side an 11-7 advantage over the International team, which is made up of players outside of the U.S. and Europe. Play in the biennial event finishes Sunday, when the 12 members of the American team play the 12 International pros in singles matches.
In the third match of the day, at 12:26 p.m. ET, Scheffler plays Matsuyama. It stands to be one of his final professional rounds of golf of 2024, the most remarkable season of his pro career. Scheffler has won eight times worldwide this year, including the Masters and Olympic gold, putting together one of the most dominant seasons in recent PGA Tour history. Scheffler also made national news when he got arrested ahead of the PGA Championship’s second round for a traffic incident before he was released from jail just before his tee time. Those charges were ultimately dropped.
