World number one Scottie Scheffler was arrested by traffic cops before day two of the 2024 US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.
World number one Scottie Scheffler was pulled out of his car and detained by police as he made his way to Valhalla Golf Club ahead of day two of the PGA Championship.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, the golfer was detained after he misunderstood the traffic flow situation following a fatal collision earlier in the morning.
The second round of the PGA Championship was delayed for more than an hour following the collision between a pedestrian and a bus at 5am ET.
According to Darlington, the officer involved in the exchange yelled ‘obscenities’ at Scheffler after the Masters champion tried to enter Valhalla via a ‘side median’.
Darlington wrote on X that after Scheffler attempted to drive by: “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.”
A spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Police Department said: “About 5:00 ET 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 Roadsouth to north when he was struck by a shuttle bus that was traveling 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.”
Darlington told Sports Center that the situation with Scheffler moved ‘very quickly’ and ‘very aggressively’.
According to Darlington, Scheffler turned to the journalist and said: “Please help me.”
Darlington later reported that the officer thought that Scheffler was perhaps a ‘manager or agent’ and had no clue who he was.
The ESPN reporter said once he told the officer who Scheffler was, his reply was: “There’s nothing you can do, he’s going to jail.”
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 fired an opening round of three-under 68 at Valhalla on Thursday afternoon.
His appearance at the major was in doubt owing to his heavily pregnant wife Meredith.
But earlier in the week Scheffler revealed his baby boy Bennett was born on 8 May.
Scheffler was scheduled to play the second round with Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman at 8.48am.