Scheffler, who was booked at 7:28 a.m. ET and released at 8:40 a.m, made his 10:08 a.m. tee time. He finished the day two shots back of the lead.
Scheffler opened his post-round press conference by extending his sympathies to John Mills, the pedestrian killed in the bus accident that caused the confusion outside the Valhalla gates. Then, he addressed his arrest, which resulted in a felony charge for assaulting a police officer.
“My situation will get handled. It was a chaotic situation and big misunderstanding.”
The famously unflappable golfer said he was is “in shock and in fear” and “shaking for about an hour” while in police custody. He thanked the Louisville PD officers at the precinct for cracking jokes, hanging out with him, and settling him down.
“I feel like my heads still spinning. I can’t really explain what happened this morning,” Scheffler said. “I was pretty rattled, to say the least.”
Scheffler said he never considered going home instead of playing his second round.
“I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me.”
Once back in his office, he promptly went to work. These days — regardless of circumstance — that exclusively means tearing up a golf course.
Scheffler opened with a birdie on the par-5 10th, thanks to a signature approach. He negated his only bogey, on the par-3 11th, with a birdie on the par-4 12th.
Scheffler completed his 2-under first nine (34) with a tremendous up-and-down on the par-5 18th, digging his second shot out of the unforgiving bluegrass rough.
“Probably took a few holes to feel normal,” he said. “It was kind of nice to be inside the ropes competing.”
Scheffler nearly holed out for eagle on the par-4 second, setting up a birdie that put him two back of the lead. On the short par-4 fourth, he beautifully controlled the spin of his approach to land within a few feet of the cup. He nearly sunk his chip on No. 5.
On the par-5 seventh, Scheffler drilled a lengthy birdie putt (after waiting nearly 10 minutes for Wyndham Clark) to move him to 5-under par for the round. At 12:30 p.m. ET — about six hours after being handcuffed and thrown into a police car, the best golfer in the world secured a 66, tied with Min-Woo Lee for the second-lowest round of the morning groups, behind leader Collin Morikawa (65).
“My main focus after getting arrested was wondering if I could come back out here and play,” said Scheffler. “As far as best rounds of my career, I would say it’s pretty good. I definitely never imagined ever going to jail and I definitely never imagined ever going to jail the morning before one of my tee times, for sure.”
Scheffler shot a 4-under 67 on Thursday, highlighted by a 167-foot hole-out for eagle on the opening hole — his second professional golf shot as a dad.
The 27-year-old has won four of his last five PGA Tour starts, including two signature events, the Players Championship and the Masters. Scheffler took the last three weeks off to stay in Texas with his wife, Meredith, who gave birth to their first child.
