Scottie Scheffler’s stunning act after arrest amid ugly Tiger Woods development
The World No.1 kept his cool to stay in contention in the second round of the PGA Championship.
Scottie Scheffler has lifted the lid and explained what happened during his dramatic arrest before the second round of the PGA Championship in the early hours of Friday morning. The World No.1 was arrested on his way to the course at Valhalla, with stunning images showing him handcuffed as he was taken to jail for not following police orders after a pedestrian fatality.
Louisville Metro Police Department said Scheffler was booked on four charges, including second-degree assault of a police officer after his vehicle dragged an officer to the ground and injured him. Scheffler was also hit with charges of third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic.
The American released a statement saying the incident was a “big misunderstanding”, and later said he was shocked and confused over the arrest. After being released from jail he went on to shoot a five-under par round of 67 amid cheers and support from the galleries.
“It was a chaotic situation and a big misunderstanding. I can’t get into what transpired, outside of my heart goes out to the family,” Scheffler said after his round, offering his sympathy to the family of a tournament vendor John Mills – the pedestrian who had died in the accident. “I can’t imagine what they’re going through this morning.”
Police said Mills had been struck by a bus while crossing the road in a lane that was dedicated to tournament traffic. He was pronounced dead at the scene about 5:09am.
Scheffler, who was originally slated to start his second round at 8:48am, drove past a police officer around 6am in his SUV with markings on the door indicating it was a PGA Championship vehicle. According to ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington, the officer screamed at Scheffler to stop and then grabbed onto the car until the golfer stopped about 10 yards later.
The officer, identified in the arrest report as Detective Gillis, was dragged “to the ground” and suffered “pain, swelling, and abrasions to his left wrist” after the car “accelerated forward.” The arrest sheet said the officer was dressed in a high visibility reflective jacket when he stopped Scheffler’s car to give instructions. Detective Gillis was taken to hospital for his injuries.
Here is video that I took of Scheffler being arrested: https://t.co/8UPZKvPCCf pic.twitter.com/9Tbp2tyrJh
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) May 17, 2024
Scottie Scheffler lifts the lid on PGA Championship arrest
Darlington said police pulled Scheffler out of the car, pushed him up against the car and immediately placed him in handcuffs. “Scheffler was then walked over to the police car, placed in the back, in handcuffs, very stunned about what was happening, looked toward me as he was in those handcuffs and said, ‘Please help me,'” Darlington said.
“He very clearly did not know what was happening in the situation. It moved very quickly, very rapidly, very aggressively.”
Scheffler later opened up on the drama, saying: “I was pretty rattled to say the least. The officer that took me to the jail was very kind. He was great. We had a nice chat in the car, that kind of helped calm me down.
“I was never angry. I was shaking for like an hour, I would say in shock and in fear. Coming out here and trying to play today was definitely a challenge, but I did my best to control my mind, control my breathing.
“When I was sitting in like the holding cell or whatever, there was a TV there and I could see myself on ESPN. The officers downstairs, they were discussing how long it was going to take me to get released.”
Scottie Scheffler keeps his composure as Tiger Woods misses cut
Scheffler, seeking his fifth win in six starts, managed to get to nine-under after a stunning second round and hot on the heels of leader Collin Morikawa (66). Min Woo Lee and Jason Day made big moves to revive Australia’s hopes, but Tiger Woods missed the cut after a brutal round.
Lee shot a five-under-par 66 that sent the Perth prodigy rocketing up the leaderboard, joining Day at four-under after he recorded a five-birdie 67. But Tiger will miss the cut after making two triple-bogeys over the first four holes on Friday on his way to six-over-par 77.
Woods finished the two rounds at Valhalla at seven-over and left the course tied for 136th place. The top 70 and ties will move to the weekend. When Woods finished the second round, he was six shots behind the projected cut line.
It marks the fifth time Woods has missed the cut at the PGA Championship, and the first since 2019. It also marks his 13th missed cut at a major since he turned pro in 1997.
Dear Lord its so sad watching Tiger Woods golf now… I mean, its amazing he can even golf at all, but man it hurts seeing him this way… Dead last again.
— DeezNutz (@MHarkinz1) May 17, 2024
Tiger said MANY times he would never just hang around if he couldn’t compete to win. That’s exactly where we’ve been for 2 years. It’s actually quite sad.
Even in a golf cart he wouldn’t be able to compete. He’s too old and too broken.
He’s officially stayed too long.
— stroke and distance (@StrokeDistance) May 17, 2024
Glad I can watch the weekend of the #PGAChampionship and not have to see every shot of Tiger Woods who barely made the cut and doesn’t really have any impact on the tournament.
— MHeido ️ (@mheido03) May 18, 2024
The Tiger Woods delusion will never end.
He will be 68 teeing up and there will be a group of morons out there who actually think he could win. https://t.co/ml7AO84sR7
— Sekrah (@sekrah) May 18, 2024