Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler sought a Sunday charge at the PGA Championship after his worst round of the year while officials confirmed there was no bodycam video of his Friday arrest.
Scheffler stumbled to his first over-par round of the season, a two-over 73, at Valhalla on Saturday to stand on seven-under 206 for 54 holes — eight strokes off the lead.
The two-time Masters champion was set for an early afternoon start with regular caddie Ted Scott, who missed Saturday’s round while attending his daughter’s high school graduation.
Scheffler arrived at Valhalla after a three-week layoff while wife Meredith gave birth to their first child, a son named Bennett born last week.
Before that, he was the hottest player in golf with four wins in his last five starts. He won at Bay Hill and the Players in March, lost a playoff at the Houston Open, then won the Masters and Heritage titles last month.
Scheffler was arrested Friday morning at the entrance to Valhalla after trying to go around a traffic jam while police were investigating an earlier fatal accident.
Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) officers handcuffed Scheffler before arresting him on charges of felony assault of a police officer, criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic.
“We’ll be pleading not guilty,” Scheffler attorney Steve Romines said.
He was taken to jail, booked, had a mugshot taken that quickly appeared on fan T-shirts at the course. He was released in time to tee off in the second round.
Scheffler, 27, could face between five and 10 years in prison on the felony charge alone.
Police say Scheffler’s vehicle accelerated and dragged police officer Bryan Gillis so severely that he had left knee and wrist injuries and was treated and released at a local hospital.
Romines said Scheffler “stopped immediately upon being directed to and never at any point assaulted any officer with his vehicle.”
“I can’t comment on any specifics,” Scheffler said Friday. “But my situation will be handled. It was just a big misunderstanding.”
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said there was no bodycam video from the arrest but police had footage from a fixed camera across the street from the entrance and it would be released in coming days.
“The officer did not have bodycam footage turned on during the incident,” Greenberg said. “The case is in the hands of our county attorney and I’ll let the legal matters play out.”
– ‘Big miscommunication’ –
A reporter for golf website No Laying Up posted Sunday on X that a source familiar with the thinking of the Jefferson County prosecutor’s office told him the prosecutors were planning to drop the charges against Scheffler early next week.
Scheffler is scheduled for an arraignment on Tuesday.
Romines told The Golf Channel that charges against Scheffler “will either be dropped or we will go to trial because Scottie didn’t do anything wrong.
“We’re not interested in any sort of settlement negotiations or anything like that. It was just a big miscommunication.”
Scheffler told The Golf Channel that after firing a 66 on Friday in the aftermath of the arrest, the implications of his arrest and what followed struck him before round three and that he felt sore and fatigued as he took a double bogey and two bogeys in his first four holes on Saturday.
“I talked to my lawyer on the phone to try and process what really happened,” Scheffler said. “I don’t think it hit me until (Saturday) morning what actually happened.”
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