Scottie Scheffler charged with 4 offences after arrest at PGA Championship
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In a wild Friday morning at the PGA Championship, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was arrested by Louisville police on his way to Valhalla Golf Club.
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After a short time in custody, the world No. 1 arrived the course and shot a five-under-par 66 in Round 2 of the season’s second major.
A chartered bus working with the tournament struck and killed pedestrian John Mills shortly after 5 a.m., creating a large traffic delay. When Scheffler’s car allegedly attempted to circumvent traffic just over an hour later, he was intercepted by police.
The officer reportedly had his hand on the car and was dragged to the ground when Scheffler, according to a police report, attempted to continue driving to the course. Scheffler was taken from the car, handcuffed and put into the back of a police vehicle.
At 9:11 a.m., after being released from custody, the world No. 1 golfer arrived at Valhalla less than one hour from his rescheduled tee time. Postmedia was on hand as two SUVs arrived at the course and Scheffler stepped out of one and walked into the clubhouse.
“First of all, my sympathies go out to the family of Mr. Mills,” Scheffler said to open one of the more amazing post-round news conferences in memory. “I can’t imagine what they’re going through this morning. One day he’s heading to the golf course to watch a tournament. A few moments later he’s trying to cross the street, and now he’s no longer with us.
“I can’t imagine what they’re going through. My heart. I feel for them. I’m sorry,” he said. “My situation will get handled.”
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Scheffler was charged with four offences: Second degree assault of a police officer; third degree criminal mischief; reckless driving; and disregarding traffic signals from an officer.
Scheffler offered the following statement to ESPN before his round.
“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 pedestrian was identified as Louisville resident John Mills by mayor Craig Greenberg in a statement made on social media. Greenberg also gave some details about the legal issues Scheffler is facing.
“Following this tragedy, LMPD stopped traffic to assist with its investigation into the fatal accident,” Greenberg wrote. “It is unfortunate that an incident took place between an LMPD officer and Mr. Scheffler while he was attempting to enter Valhalla. LMPD is fully investigating this incident and the legal process will proceed.”
It was dark and rainy on the Louisville street at the time of the accident and Scheffler’s arrest, with inclement weather expected to last throughout the day.
ESPN’s Jeff Darlington witnessed the stunning situation between the Masters champion and local authorities.
“Breaking News: World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler has been detained by police in handcuffs after a misunderstanding with traffic flow led to his attempt to drive past a police officer into Valhalla Golf Club,” Darlington posted on X.
“The police officer attempted to attach himself to Scheffler’s car, and Scheffler then stopped his vehicle at the entrance to Valhalla. The police officer then began to scream at Scheffler to get out of the car. When Scheffler exited the vehicle, the officer shoved Scheffler against the car and immediately placed him in handcuffs. He is now being detained in the back of a police car.”
Darlington later posted a video on the incident he made at the scene near the Louisville, Ky., course.
Scheffler, a new father, can be seen pleading for help as he’s being taken away by police. Due to bad weather, police on the scene were wearing yellow rain jackets, which could have added to the confusion as private security also has been wearing yellow this week at the PGA Championship.
Scheffler’s mugshot photo showing the golfer in an orange jumpsuit was posted on the Kentucky public mugshot database.
Second -round play at the PGA Championship was delayed by one hour and 20 minutes. The Masters champion began his second round at 10:08 a.m.
Harris English played in one of the first groups on Friday and arrived at the course just after 5 a.m. and saw the scene of the accident.
“It’s dark, it’s raining, police lights everywhere. It was very strange coming into the course this morning. Not the normal quiet arrival,” English said. “Obviously got here this morning, then news broke that Scottie had been detained and all that. We had no idea what was going on. That could have been any one of us. We’re all taking that same route coming into the club.
“Very unfortunate. You never want to hear about a person losing their life coming to the course. It’s just terrible.”
Aussie Min Woo Lee also discussed the early morning situation after his round, and said he also circumvented traffic in a simialr fashion to Scheffler, as did numerous other tournament courtesy cars.
“Personally I went around traffic, and I was following cars — a Lexus car that was one of the courtesy cars,” Lee said. “I just thought it was a bit of an overreaction. A lot of people were doing it. He was in a courtesy car, too, so I don’t know what kind of caused it.”
New York criminal defence lawyer Roger Archibald gave Postmedia his assessment of the situation.
“If a police officer is stopping you because of an on-site fatality, you need to stop,” Archibald said. “What we have here is a situation where a police officer is trying to do their job, and the No. 1 golfer in the world is trying to do their job by getting to the tournament for their tee time. We can only hope that when this situation is fully unpacked, it is fundamentally an ill-timed miscommunication.”
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