Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 golfer, was arrested early Friday after he tried to drive around a police roadblock on his way into the Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky, the site of this week’s PGA Championship.
Scheffler faces a felony charge of assaulting a police officer, along with misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals, according to ESPN. He has since been released without bail, and has arrived at the golf tournament.
“This morning, I was proceeding as directed by police officers,” Scheffler told Sports Illustrated. “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,” Scheffler said. “It truly puts everything in perspective.”
Louisville Metro Police stopped traffic outside the golf course around 5 a.m. after a pedestrian trying to cross the road to the club and was struck and killed by a shuttle bus. The incident prompted PGA to delay the start time of the tournament of the day.
“The start of Round 2 is DELAYED due to a serious accident near the course,” the PGA said in a statement.
Scheffler arrived outside the golf club and attempted to drive past the crash scene using the median to get into the golf club, ESPN reported.
“A police officer instructed Scheffler to stop, but Scheffler continued to drive about 10 to 20 yards toward the entrance,” ESPN reported.
“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,” ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington posted on X.
In an ESPN appearance later Friday morning, Darlington added that a police officer had also grabbed at Scheffler’s arm to pull him out of the car “before Scheffler eventually opened the door, at which point the police officer pulled Scheffler out of the car.”
Scheffler believed he was passing by security guards, who were in yellow vests, but who turned out to be police officers, Darlington said. Scheffler was in a marked player courtesy vehicle, he added.
During Darlington’s interaction with police, they told him to stand back, with one officer saying in the video, “Right now he’s going to jail.”
After handcuffing Scheffler, police put him in the back of a police car. Scheffler was “very stunned about what was happening,” Darlington added on air, and “looked toward me as he was in those handcuffs and said ‘please help me.'”
“He very clearly did not know what was happening in the situation,” Darlington said. “It moved very quickly, very rapidly, very aggressively.”
Police did not understand during Scheffler’s 20-minute detainment in the vehicle that he was a competitor in the tournament.
A police detective was hospitalized with a wrist injury after he was dragged to the ground during the encounter with Scheffler, authorities said.