Cop to Scottie Scheffler: "So, you want the full experience?"

Scottie Scheffler has told of his shock at being arrested and charged with assault before the second round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

Ben Smith

17 May 2024

Scottie Scheffler revealed an hilarious exchange he had with a cop minutes after he was arrested over a traffic incident before the second round of the PGA Championship.

Scheffler was charged with assaulting a police officer outside Valhalla Golf Club on Friday morning over the incident which occurred at approximately 6am.

The cop in question was directing traffic after a fatal traffic incident involving a PGA of America employee and a shuttle bus at 5am.

Scheffler was unaware of said incident that tragically took the life of John Mills and was simply trying to access the course to make his 10.08am tee time with Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman.

What happened next is unclear and the details will be litigated in due course.

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"I was pretty rattled to say the least," Scheffler told reporters on Friday afternoon after firing a 66 that leaves him firmly in contention heading into the weekend.

Scheffler said in the immediate aftermath of being handcuffed the officer that drove him to jail was 'very kind'.

The world number one said he performed his stretching routine in his jail cell, although he later admitted he didn't think he would make his tee time.

"We had a nice chat in the car, that kind of helped calm me down," Scheffler said.

"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. I was just in shock, and I think my body was just -- I was shaking the whole time.

"I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me. He came out and we had a nice chat and then the officers inside the jail were tremendous."

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Scheffler said some police officers soon realised who he was and started making jokes.

"This one older officer looked at me as I was doing my fingerprints or whatever, and he looks at me and he goes, 'So do you want the full experience today?'

"I kind of looked at him, and I was like, 'I don't know how to answer that'.

"He's like, 'Come on, man, you want a sandwich?'

"I was like, 'Sure, I'll take a sandwich'. I hadn't eaten breakfast yet.

"I mean, they were really kind. I'm grateful that we have such strong police, and they're our protectors out there, and like I said, we just got into a chaotic situation this morning.

"That's really all it was."

Scheffler, 27, was booked at 7.28am local time and released at 8.30am.

He arrived back at Valhalla with 56 minutes to spare before his tee time.

The Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections released his mugshot after he was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer.

The police report has also now been released.

Scheffler's attorney Steve Romines said multiple witnesses confirmed the golfer 'did not do anything wrong but was simply proceeding as directed'.

He added: "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."

Scheffler said it took him about three holes to finally calm down.

He will reportedly appear in court next Tuesday.

Scheffler said it never crossed his mind about withdrawing from the second men's major of the year.

"I was just so confused at what was happening at the time," he said.

"I didn't know what time it was. I didn't know what was going on.

"When I was sitting in like the holding cell or whatever, there was a TV there and I could see myself on the TV on ESPN.

He added: "I was kind of thinking about my tee time, I was like, well, maybe I could be able to get out.

"The officers downstairs, they were discussing how long it was going to take me to get released.

"Obviously we have to go through all the due process and everything. I was able to kind of see a bit of the TV, and then I laid down and then I started to stretch a little bit once I got my heart rate down a little bit."

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