PGA Championship 2025: The things that still shock us about Scottie Scheffler's bizarre arrest

Of the many remarkable chapters in Scottie Scheffler's historic 2024 season, none were more surprising than a Friday morning in Louisville that began in a jail cell and ended with him in contention at the PGA Championship. An incident forever shattering the notion that the world's top-ranked golfer was "boring."

It was 6:15 a.m. when Scheffler, driving a marked player-courtesy vehicle, approached Valhalla Golf Club for his second-round tee time. Unbeknownst to him, entry to the course had been halted due to a tragic accident hours earlier—a shuttle bus had struck and killed a PGA vendor employee around 5 a.m. According to the police report, Scheffler allegedly swerved into opposing traffic to bypass backed-up vehicles. A detective named Bryan Gillis attempted to stop him, but claimed Scheffler "refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging [the officer] to the ground." Gillis reported suffering "pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee" and was taken to a hospital.

The golf world was in disbelief. This wasn't some hot-headed tour rookie—this was Scottie Scheffler, universally respected for his calm demeanor and impeccable sportsmanship. Something didn't add up.

From handcuffs to contention

What followed was a sequence of events that seemed pulled from fiction rather than a major championship:

• ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington captured video of Scheffler's detention. When Darlington tried to intervene, an officer reportedly responded, "There's nothing you can do, he's going to jail."

• Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic.

• The Louisville police department publicly released his mugshot.

• Scheffler began his pre-round "warm-up" in a jail cell rather than on the practice range.

• Tournament officials had delayed all tee times by an hour and 20 minutes due to the morning's fatal accident—without this postponement, Scheffler likely would have missed his tee time.

• Released from custody, Scheffler returned to Valhalla just after 9 a.m., grabbed a quick breakfast, and managed only a brief warm-up before his round.

RELATED: The surreal scenes of Scottie Scheffler's return after arrest

When he finally reached the 10th tee (his starting hole), fans greeted him with supportive chants of "SCOTTIE!" and "FREE SCOTTIE!" Remarkably, some spectators already wore T-shirts featuring his freshly-released mugshot. The day was also a reminder that sports, while occasionally providing respites from the pangs of the real world, cannot escape reality. At least once a hole, Scheffler was serenaded with “Say her name!"—a nod to the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor, a 28-year-old African-American who was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police officers, a death that spurred civil unrest across the country. Scheffler's incident cast a new spotlight on a police department already under Department of Justice investigation for alleged civil rights abuses.

But as for Scheffler’s response on the course? A birdie on his first hole. He proceeded to card a four-under 66, ending the day just three shots behind leader Xander Schauffele.

Grace under pressure

Perhaps most telling was Scheffler's poised response after the round. While visibly shaken, he refused to criticize authorities or make excuses:

"My situation will get handled. It was a chaotic situation and a big misunderstanding," Scheffler explained to reporters. "I can't comment on any of the specifics of it ... but my situation will be handled. It was just a big misunderstanding. If you've got any questions about the golf today, I'm happy to answer that, but outside of that, I can't get into what transpired, outside of my heart goes out to the family."

His attorney, Steve Romines, took a more assertive stance: "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."

Scheffler has never been one to display his emotions, yet the ordeal revealed another layer to his vulnerability. He admitted being "shaking for like an hour" while in custody, overwhelmed not by anger but by shock.

"I was sitting there waiting to kind of go in and I asked him, I was like, 'Hey, excuse me, can you just come hang out with me for a few minutes so I can calm down?' I was never angry," Scheffler recounted. "I was just in shock."

In an especially surreal moment, Scheffler saw television coverage of his own arrest while still in jail. Despite the circumstances, he expressed gratitude toward the officer who transported him: "He came out and we had a nice chat and then the officers inside the jail were tremendous."

The aftermath

As the story developed, a few oddities emerged:

• Louisville's mayor had to acknowledge the arresting officer did not have his body camera activated during the incident.

• Videos released in subsequent days appeared to contradict key elements of the official police report.

• Detective Gillis claimed Scheffler had ruined his $80 pants during the encounter.

It took 12 days for all charges against Scheffler to be dropped.

The golf continued—Scheffler stumbled with a third-round 73 before rebounding with a Sunday 65 to secure another top-10 finish. Far from derailing his season, he went on to win five more tournaments in 2024, including an Olympic gold medal and his first FedEx Cup championship, earning his third PGA Tour Player of the Year award.

Yet for all his accomplishments in a dominant season, many will remember 2024 as the year golf's most unassuming champion found himself in handcuffs before sunrise—and responded with the same resilience that defined his play on the course.

Golf Digest senior writer Joel Beall’s debut book, Playing Dirty: Rediscovering Golf's Soul in Scotland in an Age of Sportswashing and Civil War, is on sale now at BackNinePress and all major bookstores.