ADMIN
Completely crazy situation at the PGA Championship, second Major tournament of the golf season. World number 1 Scottie Scheffler was arrested by police as he was due to play his second round on Friday, before being released at the last moment so he could take part in his match. The winner of the last Masters at Augusta would have tried to bypass a police check on his way to the Valhalla course in Louisville (United States).
According to images posted on social networks and testimonies from journalists, Scheffler refused to stop at the request of a police officer who was regulating traffic near the golf club, where a fatal accident that occurred before his arrival had created a huge traffic jam. The 27-year-old champion had attracted the attention of the police officer when he climbed onto the sidewalk to overtake the cars stopped in front of him in order to enter the territory of the golf club.
“I was doing what the police told me to do,” he said in a press release published on his return to the club. The situation was very chaotic and this is understandable given the tragic accident that had occurred just before. And there was a big misunderstanding about what I thought I was being told to do. » “I never had the intention of not respecting any injunction whatsoever. I hope I can put this incident aside and concentrate on golf,” he added.
Released and already on the course
In a video posted on X by ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington, Scheffler can be seen handcuffed behind his back and taken to be placed in the back of a police car. In this footage filmed before daybreak, police can be heard shouting at witnesses to back off, and an officer telling them “now he's going to jail and there's nothing you can do about it.” According to local television station WAVE-TV and Golf Digest, Scheffler was formally charged with assaulting a police officer, criminal conduct, reckless driving and disregarding the commands of a regulating police officer. the circulation.
A photo of the player in an orange inmate outfit was released by Louisville authorities. According to SiriusXM PGA Tour radio, Scheffler admitted the facts and was released.
He arrived at Valhalla a little less than an hour before having to start the second round at 10:08 a.m. local time (2:08 p.m. GMT) as planned by the official program which was delayed by 80 minutes “due to the accident that occurred at the surroundings of the course and in which a pedestrian was killed by a bus,” the PGA announced, citing the police.
After a few minutes of practice, Scheffler began his second round in the rain in a game shared with two other Major winners, Wyndham Clark (US Open 2023) and Brian Harman (British Open 2023). He seemed calm and focused, immediately making a birdie.
Well placed after a first round of 67 (-4) in 12th place, Scottie Scheffler was one of the big favorites before the start of the tournament. The American also hit an exceptional iron shot this Thursday on his first hole.
[title_words_as_hashtags
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings