Shortly after 10 a.m. Friday, Scottie Scheffler played his first shot of the second round of the US PGA Championship. Even allowing for an unusual break in the rough terrain, it would be fair to say it was the least hilly ride of the morning.
The images of the world’s number one golfer, and possibly its most placid man, being led away in handcuffs by Louisville police four hours earlier will endure among the most surprising and surreal moments of the sporting year.
Within a couple of hours, those clips were accompanied by images of Scheffler in an orange prison gown and confirmation that he would face four charges, the most serious of which is felony second-degree assault on a police officer.
The fact that he was released at 8:40 a.m., back on the Valhalla grounds at 9:12 a.m., laughing on the driving range at 9:35 a.m., and on the tee at 10:08 a.m. would serve as a partial chronology of his morning. stranger.
It would be necessary at this point to provide some context around Scheffler, who has dominated his sport in recent years but whose profile outside those ropes was relatively small before his apparent refusal to stop his car at the request of police on Friday. tomorrow.
Police take Scottie Scheffler away in handcuffs shortly after 6 a.m. Friday.
He then appeared in prison clothes for a mugshot in Louisville, before being released by police.
Hours later, Scheffler returned to the course and birdied two of his first three holes.
He hasn’t reached broader consciousness in the way of Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy, not even close. That muted status is wildly out of character with his talent, but it also says everything about why he’s the last man you’d expect to see in a mug shot.
He has long been portrayed, quite accurately, as the dead-eyed killer with a shitty personality, a devout Christian who has taken to crucifying his rivals on the field and never strays into controversy off it. In fact, they attend his press conferences largely out of a sense of duty rather than fascination.
While the golf world has been caught in political chaos for the past two years, the consequences of which have engulfed Woods, McIlroy and Jon Rahm, Scheffler has simply gone about his business of saying little and winning a lot.
Coming into this tournament, his most recent results read: win, win, second, win, win, including his second Masters title. At 27 years old, he has been producing the best numbers since Woods and no news.
The closest he’s come to struggling in recent history was a prolonged period of bad pitching. As Woods summed up on the eve of this tournament: “If he makes a horrible putt, he finishes in the top 10. If he makes a decent putt, he wins.” He makes a good putt and runs away.’
Scheffler has a reputation as a devout Christian and family man who has just started a family.
Scheffler won the Masters last month and it has been a roller coaster ride for the world number one.
Their arrival at tournaments is often accompanied by the question of who could finish second. This time there really had been an injection of doubt, due in part to McIlroy’s form, but mainly because Scheffler and his wife Meredith, his childhood sweetheart in Texas, recently had his first child. That had forced him to put the clubs on hold for a couple of weeks.
The possibility of him arriving rusty seemed feasible, and was quickly ruled out with an opening 67 in the first loop on Thursday; His highlight came when he holed out from 167 yards on his second shot of his first round. Scheffler was back in business and trending toward the inevitable.
Time will tell what impact Friday morning’s remarkable scenes will have on the balance of a golfer whose mind has always been the most reliable club in his bag.
In itself, this is interesting considering how different he used to be: His former coach at the University of Texas, John Fields, once detailed to me about the impulsive young man who kicked holes in the gym wall after losing in tennis. table.
Fans were quick to don ‘Free Scottie’ t-shirts in Valhalla after Friday morning’s crazy events.
Scheffler received a rapturous reception from fans in Valhalla when he returned from prison.
He seemed in good spirits with his caddy and teammates on the practice range before the round.
He overcame that and channeled his ability to cause damage on the leaderboards, winning 10 times since February 2022 and pocketing $61 million in prize money alone.
Barely a foot has deviated from the line when accumulating those numbers, which only increases the surprise that came from being trapped in those scenes at the gates of Valhalla.
Scheffler called it a misunderstanding, which seems eminently plausible given that the players were evidently informed that they could bypass the cordon imposed while police controlled traffic following the tragic death of a pedestrian.
It remains to be seen if the charges will be dropped or if his habit of relentlessly dominating a sport will be interrupted by the kind of noise he is unfamiliar with.