The No. 1 Golfer In The World Was Arrested Driving Into The PGA Championship

Yes—really.

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I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge of golf begins and ends with the infamous story of Tiger Woods’ ex-wife smashing his car with a golf club in 2009.

I’m not sure if any story in sports gossip history is juicier than that was at the time, but this bizarre breaking news from just a few hours ago might make the top 10…

In the early hours of Friday morning, the no. 1 golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler, was arrested while driving into Valhalla Golf Course in Louisville, Kentucky for the PGA Championship.

As someone on Twitter wrote, that would be the equivalent of Tom Brady being arrested on his way into the stadium for a playoff game.

ESPN reported that traffic was stopped at 5 a.m. ET after a man was tragically struck and killed by a shuttle bus.

According to Scheffler, he was driving into the golf course and following a traffic officer’s instructions after the incident when there was a “misunderstanding” of what he was being asked to do:

“This morning, I 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.

I never intended to disregard any of the instructions. I’m hopeful to put this to the side and focus on golf today.”

The video below shows Sheffler being arrested by a police officer after he allegedly tried to continue driving into the golf course:

According to ESPN, he was “…booked on charges of second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic. The assault charge is a felony; the others are misdemeanors.”

Oy.

Scheffler’s attorney quickly released the following statement:

“In the early hours of the morning in advance of his tee time Scottie was going to the course to begin his pre round preparation. Due to the combination of event traffic and a traffic fatality in the area it was a very chaotic situation.

He was proceeding as directed by another traffic officer and driving a marked player’s vehicle with credentials visible. In the confusion, Scottie is alleged to have disregarded a different officer’s traffic signals resulting in these charges.

Multiple eyewitnesses have confirmed that he did not do anything wrong but was simply proceeding as directed. He stopped immediately upon being directed to and never at any point assaulted any officer with his vehicle. We will litigate this matter as needed and he will be completely exonerated.”

You would think Scheffler (who just one the Masters, by the way) would skip out on the PGA Championship, considering he was just arrested, but he is the no. 1 golfer in the world after all!

According to reports, one of the co-owners of the Valhalla Golf Club picked Scheffler up from jail and drove him back to the course, just in time for his tee time—and to apparently eat a plate of eggs.

As of moments ago, Scheffler is currently on the course and birdied his first hole of the day—whatever that means.

Meanwhile, the arresting officer is alleging that Scheffler dragged him to the ground with his car and destroyed his $80 pants, so do with that information what you will.

Will I now watch the PGA Championship because of this developing story? Maybe.

More to come on this story…I guess?

What Paying Subscribers Got

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This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Be sure to follow Bastien on Twitter here.

Spoiler alert: Tashi (Zendaya) gets injured while she's playing in a match as a student-athlete at Stanford. How common is it now for a player of Tashi's level to forgo turning pro at 18 and instead go to college? I feel like she would've just gone pro in real life!
She most definitely would have gone pro in real life after winning the junior US Open! While the college route is getting more popular and sustainable (Danielle Collins—who recently posted a 15-match winning streak—had a stellar career with the Virginia Cavaliers before transitioning to the WTA), the brightest young talents almost always try and have a crack at the tour right away.

Other Pointless Sports Gossip

• Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill is expecting his 11th child. He currently has 10 children with five different women. We’ll talk about this later… (via X)

• All I’m going to say about the viral, sexist, and misogynistic commencement speech from Kansas City Chiefs kicker, Harrison Butker, is that the Los Angeles Chargers trolled him in the most incredible way with their schedule announcement. (via X)

• Speaking of schedule releases, Lewis Hamilton really ate and left no crumbs with the Denver Broncos announcement. (via Denver Broncos)

• I’ll leave you with this: LeBron James sitting courtside at a recent Cleveland Cavaliers-Boston Celtics playoff game with the appropriate number of beverages:

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