Scottie Scheffler arrested and charged with assaulting police officer at PGA Championship
Chaotic PGA Championship scenes saw world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler detained by police.
Scottie Scheffler detained by police after traffic incident
Golf world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was detained by police and put in handcuffs on Friday morning following a traffic misunderstanding near the PGA Championship. Scheffler was said to have driven past an officer towards Valhalla Golf Club and when he exited the vehicle, was pushed into the back of a police car and taken away.
ESPN claim that a misunderstanding with traffic flow led to Scheffler driving past police, who then attached themselves to Scheffler's car and the golf star blocked their entrance to Valhalla.
The police officer then screamed at Scheffler to get out of the car, an order that he complied with, before being put up against his vehicle and subsequently detained.
Sky Sports have reported that Scheffler has since been released by Louisville Police after he tried to navigate around a traffic cordon, on his way to compete in the second round of the tournament.
It later emerged Scheffler was charged with second degree assault of police officer, criminal mischief third degree, reckless driving, disregard signals from officer directing traffic.
He was released from custody and will play at Valhalla today as scheduled, having arrived at Valhalla less than an hour before his tee time.
Here is video that I took of Scheffler being arrested: https://t.co/8UPZKvPCCf pic.twitter.com/9Tbp2tyrJh
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) May 17, 2024
Scheffler released a statement several hours later, saying: "This morning, I was proceeding as directed by police officers. 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."
The traffic situation had likely been caused by an incident that saw a man killed by a shuttle bus near the PGA Championship course, which delayed the start of action on the second day of the event.
Louisville Metro Police Department released a statement which read: "About 5:00 this morning, the LMPD responded to a call of a vehicle collision involving a pedestrian and a bus.
"Our preliminary investigation found that an adult male pedestrian was crossing Shelbyville Road south to north when he was struck by a shuttle bus that was travelling eastbound in the compulsory centre lane dedicated for buses. As a result, the pedestrian received fatal injuries and was pronounced dead on the scene. The LMPD Traffic Unit is investigating."
Scheffler, who posted a four-under-par first-round score on Thursday, had then been stopped and handcuffed in the early hours of Friday morning.
The 27-year-old and his wife Meredith announced the birth of their first child, Bennett, on Monday, with Scheffler insisting that he was "as prepared as possible" to compete for the PGA Championship as a new dad to his son.
"I want to be as prepared as possible in an event and standing here today," he said. "I feel like I'm as prepared as possible. I feel like my game is in a good spot and looking forward to competing this weekend."