‘I was shaking for an hour’ – How Scottie Scheffler regained his composure after jail drama to keep US PGA hopes alive

Big-time sport’s ability to ignore personal tragedies and cheer unashamedly from the sidelines has reached new levels in Louisville this week.

From the shocking announcement of Rory McIlroy’s divorce proceedings on Monday to yesterday’s tragic road death of PGA vendor John Mills outside the gates of Valhalla to Scottie Scheffler’s bizarre arrest, the feelings of those affected played second fiddle to a series of social media memes and commentator superlatives.

Scheffler’s arrest for failing to obey a police officer’s directions as he negotiated the chaotic traffic jam outside Valhalla became world news but the world No 1 salvaged the situation with a remarkable post-round interview.

Cuffed, arrested and booked by 7.28am, he now has his very own police mugshot to go with those infamous pictures of John Daly and Tiger Woods.

But in an era when comparisons with Woods are coming thick and fast for the Masters champion, he showed he’s undoubtedly an otherworldly athlete as he carded a five-under 66 to go into the weekend just two shots behind clubhouse leader Collin Morikawa, who carded a six-under 65 to lead on 11-under from Scheffler and Belgium’s Thomas Detry, who shot 67.

“It was nice to be able to get inside the ropes and do what I love to do,” Scheffler said. “I love competing our here on Tour, I love playing in Major championships. I’ve kept myself in the tournament now with a pretty chaotic day, so I’m going to go from here and focus on getting some rest and recovery and get ready for a grind the last two days, and we’ll see how the leaderboard shakes out, but hopefully I won’t be too far back going into tomorrow.”

Scheffler’s 66 was truly remarkable in the circumstances. It was his 42nd consecutive official PGA Tour round of par or better – edging him closer to Woods’ record of 52 in a row, set between 2000 and 2001.

“Being in that jail cell that was a first for me,” Scheffler said. “I was just sitting there waiting. And you know, 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. And so I started going through my routine, I tried to get my heart rate down as much as I could today. But like I said, you know, I still feel like my head spinning a little bit. I was fortunate to be able to make it back out and play some golf today.”

The first indication that anything was awry came when the 6am media shuttle, which usually takes around 20 minutes to make the eight-mile trip to the venue, took over an hour to get within three miles of the course.

Around half a mile from the venue, media members watched Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young abandon courtesy cars and head for the venue on foot as news emerged that a PGA vendor had been hit by a bus and killed instantly crossing the road just outside the gates of the club at around 5 am.

EPSN then reported Scheffler’s bizarre arrest for refusing to stop at a police checkpoint at the club gates as an investigation of the accident led to long delays on a dark, rainy morning.

Scheffler was handcuffed and placed in a police car before a mugshot of the Masters champion’s police booking, dressed in orange prison garb, appeared on the Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections website.

Inmate No. 00654436 was eventually released and his lawyer later confirmed he faces four charges: second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic. His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday at 9am.

He arrived back at the golf course at 9.12am, just under an hour before his tee-time, and released a statement on social media saying he 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,” he said. “I never intended to disregard any of the instructions.”

An ESPN reporter who witnessed the incident said the police officer attempted to attach himself to Scheffler’s car and was dragged 15 to 20 yards as he hit the car with his torch. There was massive media interest in Scheffler’s round and even for a player who exudes calm, he was remarkably composed throughout.

Dressed in a white shirt, navy pants and white shoes, he got a loud cheer as he teed off on the 10th and fired a 92-yard wedge to three feet to set up an opening birdie four in a light drizzle. While he’d bogey the 11th, he rolled in a 27-footer at the 12th, then birdied the 18th to turn in two-under and move into the top 10.

He went on to birdie the second, fourth and seventh and received a tremendous ovation from the crowd.

“The fans were tremendous today,” Scheffler said. “You know, I felt like they were cheering extra loud for me today. I know sometimes you can’t really see it on my face, but I really do enjoy playing in front of the fans. The support I’ve been getting the last few months out here has been tremendous, and I’m really grateful for it.”

Scheffler admitted it “took a few holes to feel normal” on the course having suffered the shock of being arrested.

“I was pretty rattled, to say the least,” he said. “The officer that took me to the jail was very kind. He was great. We had a nice chat in the car that kinda helped calm me down.

“And I was sitting there waiting to kind of go in, I asked him, ‘Hey, excuse me, can you just come hang out with me for a few minutes, so I can calm down?’

“I was never, you know, 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 it was definitely a new feeling for me.

“And then the officers inside the jail were tremendous. Couple of them made some jokes, I think when they figured out who I was and what happened.

“And you know, how I ended up there. This one older officer looked at me as I was doing, like my fingerprints or whatever. And he looks at me, he goes, so do you want the full experience today?

“And I kind of looked at him. I was like, I don’t know how to answer that. He’s like, ‘Oh, man, you want a sandwich?’ And I was like, ‘Sure, like, I’ll take a sandwich. I haven’t had breakfast yet’.”

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