LOUISVILLE — There have been other golfers arrested, other golfers who ran afoul of the law and set off waves of speculation and debate, other golfers whose mug shots were splashed across social media. But there’s never been a golfer who was involved in a police altercation, arrested, and released in time to make his tee time at a major.
Scottie Scheffler is making history once again, but not in a way he ever would have wanted.
Just hours after being taken into custody for an incident involving a police officer outside the gates of Valhalla Golf Club, and barely an hour after finally walking into the clubhouse following a stint in jail, Scheffler tried to put the pieces of his suddenly chaos-ridden life back together. And he did so the best way possible: by taking to the course.
The world No. 1 walked to the 10th tee — his first of the day — almost hidden beneath a black TaylorMade umbrella. He’s not normally a demonstrative player in the best of circumstances, and Friday — facing a felony charge — he was virtually silent and withdrawn.
As fans in the tight grandstand around the 10th tee chanted “SCOT-TIE! SCOT-TIE!” Scheffler looked at his notes, rolled his ball and tee around in his hand, and focused only on what was right in front of him. He was the third of his grouping to tee off, after Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman. When he was announced — “From Texas, Scottie Scheffler!” — the gallery erupted in a sudden, brief burst of applause before going respectfully silent.
Scheffler swung away, unleashing a 298-yard drive that ended up in the rough right of the fairway. He offered the briefest of hand motions in gratitude to the fans, then walked off down the 10th fairway, his thoughts his own.
The defending Masters champion and winner of four of the last five tournaments he’s played, Scheffler has an already legendary ability to focus, to keep himself in the moment, to laser in on the task at hand and shut out the outside world. Friday at the PGA Championship would test that focus beyond anything that Scheffler has publicly acknowledged before.
Two strokes later, his approach from 92 yards out nestled up three feet from the hole. He rolled in the birdie putt to close to within four strokes of leader Xander Schauffele. And then he walked off the green to continue what’s surely the strangest round of golf he’s ever played.
