Top Golfer Scottie Scheffler Faces Four Criminal Charges After Traffic Incident; Expected To Make Tee Time In PGA Championship

Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 golfer, was arrested and briefly detained in Louisville early today by Kentucky police just hours before he is scheduled to play in the second round of the PGA Championship.

In an incident with police officers at a traffic stoppage outside Louisville’s Valhalla Golf Club, Scheffler apparently was ordered to stop his vehicle and attempted to keep driving. ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, who was on the scene, reported that Scheffler continued driving another 10-20 yards, and after finally stopping was ordered to exit his vehicle.

Once he exited the vehicle, Scheffler was put in handcuffs and led away the two police officers. He was booked into the Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections at 7:28 a.m. ET and charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic.

Prior to the incident, traffic had been stopped outside the golf course due to a vehicle crash that killed a pedestrian around 5 a.m. ET.

Scheffler had been due to tee off just before 9 a.m., but because of the pedestrian death all tee times were delayed by more than an hour.

After being detained and released, Scheffler reportedly arrived back at the golf club and is expected to make his new 10:08 a.m. tee time to defend his Masters championship.

Attorneys for Scheffler told reporters that the incident with police was the result of a miscommunication, and that Scheffler, fully credentialed to enter the golf club, had merely intended to drive past the police vehicles at the site of the accident.