Despite Arrest, Scottie Scheffler Praises Police And Calls Them 'Our Protectors'
In a stunning turn of events on Friday morning, the best golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler, was arrested by Louisville PD on his way to the PGA Championship.
Scheffler says that the entire incident occurred due to a "misunderstanding." Earlier Friday, a man was struck and killed by a shuttle bus en route to Valhalla Golf Club, the site of this weekend's major tournament.
That tragic event led to heightened police prepense around the event, which in turn led to Scheffler's unfortunate run-in with police.
Scheffler was released by police and eventually reached the course prior to the start of his second round, and he continued his quest for his first PGA Championship victory.
Despite being arrested early Friday morning before his PGA Championship round, Scottie Scheffler praised police officers.
(Getty Images)
Scottie Scheffler praised the police officers he encountered on Friday morning prior to the PGA Championship, as well as the police across the country.
Despite believing that he was the victim of a misunderstanding, Scheffler declared after his second round – where he shot a 5-under, 66 – that he holds no ill-will towards the police officers involved.
In fact, he said quite the opposite. He thanked officers for their kindness and praised the efforts of the police in America.
"The officer that took me to the jail was very kind," Scheffler said. "We had a nice chat in the car, that kind of helped calm me down."
Scheffler later said that an older officer offered him a sandwich.
"The officers inside the jail were tremendous. A couple of them made some jokes … when they figured out who I was and what happened and how I ended up there," Scheffler said.
Scottie Scheffler addresses the media after the second round of the PGA Championship and discusses being arrested by the Louisville Police Department on Friday morning.
(Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"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.'"
It would be easy for Scheffler to be angry or bitter towards the police, given the ordeal that he went through earlier in the day. But he was anything but either of those things.
"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 said.
"I'm very grateful for the people that serve all of us across the nation," he added.
An extremely classy press conference from Scheffler, who also started by delivering his condolences to the family of the man who lost his life on Friday morning. Scheffler is one of the best athletes in the world, certainly the best golfer, and he's extremely easy to root for, as well.