World No.1 golfer breaks silence after bizarre arrest
World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler has broken his silence after he was arrested and charged by police on Friday, ahead of the second round of the PGA Championships.
Scheffler was detained by Louisville Metro police, after he drove onto a curb to try and get around a fatal accident that occurred in front of the Valhalla Golf Club.
Earlier that morning, a man who was working for a vendor at the tournament, was hit and killed by a shuttle bus while attempting to cross the street near the golf club.
The tragic incident caused the road to close in both directions, but Scheffler reportedly “refused to comply and accelerated forward” when Detective Bryan Gillis stopped the golfer to give instructions.
The police report obtained by ESPN also said that the detective who stopped him “suffered pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee."
Scheffler was charged with felony assault on a police officer, criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic and was released almost four hours later.
He returned to the golf course and issued a statement on the incident before completing his second round.
“This morning I was proceeding as directed by police officers,” Scheffler began.
“It was a very chaotic situation, understandably considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier and there was a big misunderstand of what I thought I was being asked to do.
“I never intended to disregard any of the instructions.
“I am 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 passed away in the earlier accident this morning. It truly puts everything into perspective.”
After completing the second round, he spoke further about the incident and said: “My head is still kind of spinning, I can’t really explain what happened this morning."
He also recalled stretching and doing his warm-ups in the jail cell, in attempt to lower his heart rate.
“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 said.
An officer even offered him 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," he recalled.
Scheffler’s lawyer Steve Romines said that there was a bit of confusion as the officer directing traffic didn’t appear to be part of the tournament traffic detail “and that’s where the miscommunication arose”.
He also said that they will be pleading not guilty and told The Golf Channel that charges against Scheffler “will either be dropped or we will go to trial because Scottie didn’t do anything wrong.
“We’re not interested in any sort of settlement negotiations or anything like that. It was just a big miscommunication.”
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