LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Hush comes over any outdoor sporting event when a soft rain is falling. But Friday morning at Valhalla Golf Club, site of the 2024 PGA Championship, you can feel a stunned disbelief in the air. This as if people don’t really know what to say.
After a one-hour delay in play, T-shirts are now flying in as spectators are starting to fill the size of the fairways and ring themselves around the greens, but it’s eerily quiet. Yes, people are applauding when players are introduced on the first and 10th tee boxes, but otherwise this venue is quiet.
Umbrellas are everywhere in the practice area. There’s a soft rain falling, which should make the golf course vulnerable and produce low scores. Players and caddies are chatting, but you would not know that there had been a detention of the world’s number one player a few hundred yards away a few hours before.
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World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was arrested by police after a traffic misunderstanding ahead of his second round at the 2024 PGA Championship. Scheffler was booked at 7:28 a.m ET, according to online records accessed by Golfweek.
As gloomy skies sit over Valhalla Golf Club prior to the second round of the PGA Championship, players practice on the putting green. (Photo: David Dusek/Golfweek)
Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic but was subsequently released.
While Scheffler’s situation is certainly something everyone is aware of, the job at hand is to win a major championship and keep up with the leader, Xander Schauffele, who tees off this afternoon.
The only thing you can really hear in the practice area is the dull drone of electrical generators in the trucks nearby and in the television broadcast compound.
Scheffler arrived in the practice area to a round of applause from the fans. After walking down the hillside, he did a fist bump with Rickie Fowler, who asked “You OK buddy?” Scottie replied, “Yeah, thanks,” and kept walking.
A lone fan yelled out “Free Scottie!”
Brendan Todd walked by Scheffler at the range and added, “It’s great to see you a buddy.”
Scheffler’s tee time is 10:08. Typically he would start preparing hours ahead of time. He’d eat breakfast, stretch and workout, hit balls and prepare mentally for the challenge of the course. Today, it looks like that will be condensed into a soggy hour or so.
Golfweek’s David Dusek is live at Valhalla and will be updating this story throughout the day.