Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer in the world, was arrested outside Valhalla Golf Club Friday morning ahead of the second round of the PGA Championship.

Scheffler was detained early in the morning on Friday after a “misunderstanding with traffic flow led to his attempt to drive past a police officer into Valhalla Golf Club,” per ESPN's Jeff Darlington, who witnessed the arrest.

“The police officer attempted to attach himself to Scheffler’s car, and Scheffler then stopped his vehicle at the entrance to Valhalla,” Darlington reported. “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. He is now being detained in the back of a police car.”

Further context has been provided. Randy Scott of ESPN revealed that a pedestrian fatality occurred, causing a miles-long traffic back up.

In ESPN's report, they allege that a man was attempting to cross Shelbyville Road around 5 a.m. on Friday, May 17. He was then hit by a bus in a bus lane. The police say that the man died at the scene.

Scheffler was not involved in the accident. However, he did attempt to get around it to enter Valhalla.

After police told Scheffler to stop, he didn't. Once they got Scheffler to pull over, the police officer pulled him out of the car and detained him.

Darlington also took a video of the arrest. In the video, the police officers reinforce to Darlington that Scheffler will be arrested and there's nothing he can do about it.

Appearing on SportsCenter, Darlington further clarified this. He alleges that a police officer thought that he was with Scheffler as a manager or agent. Not all of the police officers were even aware of who Scheffler is. One asked Darlington, “Can you tell me the name of the person we just arrested?”

WAVE News reports Scheffler is facing these charges:

  • Second-degree assault of a police officer
  • Third-degree criminal mischief
  • Reckless driving
  • Disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic
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A booking photo has been released

What does this mean for the PGA Championship?

The PGA Championship concluded its first round on Thursday and was set to begin Round 2 early Friday morning. What implications this holds on Scottie Scheffler's status for the PGA Championship remain unclear. Scheffler shot a 4-under 67 in Round 1 and is five back of leader Xander Schauffele.

As a result of the arrest, starting times for Round 2 have been delayed to 8:35 a.m., per Pat Forde. All Round 2 start times were delayed by 1 hour and 20 minutes. Spectator gates will open at 8:00 am.

Who is Scottie Scheffler?

Scottie Scheffler during PGA Championship first round in 2024.
Jon Durr-USA TODAY Sports.

Scottie Scheffler is one of the top golfers in the world and currently the No. 1 player. In his young career, Scheffler has already accomplished a whole lot. To date, Scheffler has won the 2022 and 2024 Masters. He is also the first-ever golfer to win The Players Championship back-to-back years, winning in both 2023 and 2024.

His professional golf career commenced in 2018. Before that, Scheffler played collegiate golf at the University of Texas from 2014-18. During that period of his career, Scheffler and the University of Texas won three Big 12 championships.