Scottie Scheffler: This sporting story borders on the unbelievable

Scottie Scheffler was arrested and charged prior to his second round at the US PGA Championship.

Here’s a sporting story bordering on the unbelievable. The world’s best golfer, American Scottie Scheffler, handcuffed and arrested while trying to enter the Valhalla course to play the US PGA Championship. He does his warm-up in a Louisville jail cell before shooting a superb 66 to become one of the tournament leaders.

Scheffler, who won the Masters last month and became a father for the first time last week, allegedly dragged a police officer with his car while trying to avoid traffic controls outside Valhalla. In one of the most incredible scenes in sport, akin to Rafael Nadal being arrested outside Roland Garros at next week’s French Open, Scheffler was taken into custody by police and booked. A mugshot was taken while Scheffler wore an orange jumpsuit. T-shirts with the mugshot were worn by spectators at the course later in the strangest of days.

Scheffler was released in time to returned to the course and play his second round. He shot a superb five-under par 66 to be among the leaders after being charged with felony assault on a police officer, criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic and released.

“I still feel like my head is spinning a little bit but I was fortunate to be able to make it back out and play some golf,” Scheffler said.

A pedestrian, John Mills, died when he was struck by a shuttle bus outside Valhalla, leading to the traffic chaos that Scheffler drove in to. “It was a chaotic situation,” Scheffler said. “I can’t comment on any of the specifics, but it was just a huge misunderstanding that will get resolved I think fairly quickly. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions.”

While on the driving range before his round, Scheffler released a statement: “This morning, I was proceeding as directed by police officers,” Scheffler said. “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 into perspective.”

After his round, Scheffler told reporters: “I feel like my head is still spinning. I can’t really explain what happened this morning. I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me. That was part of my warm-up. I was just sitting there waiting and I started going through my warm-up, I felt like there was a chance I may be able to still come out here and play. I started going through my routine and I tried to get my heart rate down as much as I could today, but like I said, I still feel like my head is spinning a little bit. I was pretty rattled, to say the least.”

He added: “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 sitting there waiting to kind of go in and I asked him, I was like, ‘Hey, excuse me, can you just come hang out with me for a few minutes so I can calm down’. I was never angry. I was just in shock, and I think my body was just. I was shaking the whole time. I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me. He came out and we had a nice chat and then the officers inside the jail were tremendous. A couple of them made some jokes I think when they figured out who I was and what happened and how I ended up there.”

Scheffler said: “This one older officer looked at me as I was doing my fingerprints or whatever, and he looks at me and he goes, ‘So do you want the full experience today?’ I kind of looked at him, and I was like, I don’t know how to answer that. He’s like, ‘Come on, man, you want a sandwich? ’I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll take a sandwich’. I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. I mean, they were really kind. I’m grateful that we have such strong police, and they’re our protectors out there, and like I said, we just got into a chaotic situation this morning. That’s really all it was.”

ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington has posted video of the incident, which occurred at about 6am. Darlington says Scheffler said to him, “Please help me.”