Chaos in Valhalla – Scottie Scheffler arrested by police after traffic accident

World number one Scottie Scheffler was arrested by police for reportedly attempting to avoid a traffic jam caused by a fatal accident near Valhalla.

The start of the second round of the US PGA Championship has been postponed, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department, after a pedestrian was hit by a shuttle bus in an accident and killed.

Scheffler was just about to get to the course to prepare for his round when he was stopped.

The Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections later released a mug shot of Scheffler showing that he was released after one hour and 12 minutes.

According to ESPN, he was charged with second-degree assault on a police officer, third-degree criminal damage, reckless driving and failure to obey a traffic signal.

The photo shows Scheffler arriving at the course shortly after 9 a.m. local time.

ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington, who witnessed the incident, said live: “Traffic was backed up and Scottie Scheffler attempted to cross a median into the Valhalla Golf Club when a police officer asked him to stop.

“As Scheffler attempted to drive away, the officer clung to the side of Scheffler’s car.

“Scheffler stopped the vehicle as he turned into the entrance to the Valhalla Golf Club, approximately 10 to 20 yards from where the officer first asked him to stop.

“At this point the officer asked Scheffler to get out of the car.

“He rolled down the window, the officer grabbed his arm and started pulling. He reached in, opened the car door, pulled Scheffler out, pushed him against the car and immediately handcuffed him.”

Scheffler, who has won four of his last five events, enters Valhalla after taking three weeks off while awaiting the arrival of his first child. His wife gave birth to son Bennett last week.

He made a remarkable start to the first round, holing his second shot from 155 yards to the first hole for an eagle and eventually posting a score of 67, four under par.

This put him five strokes behind fellow countryman Xander Schauffele, who shot 62, the lowest round in the history of the men’s major championships.

The LMPD had previously released a statement about the traffic accident.

“This morning around 5:00 a.m., LMPD responded to a call regarding a traffic collision involving a pedestrian and a bus,” the statement said.

“Our preliminary investigation revealed that an adult male pedestrian was crossing Shelbyville Road from south to north when he was struck by a shuttle bus traveling eastbound in the mandatory center lane for buses.

“As a result, the pedestrian sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The LMPD Traffic Unit is investigating.”

The incident led to speculation that Scheffler might not play his second round, although Sky Sports golf expert Dame Laura Davies hopes the decision on his continued participation will be his.

The former world number one in women’s tennis also spoke of “chaos” in Valhalla and considers the incident with Scheffler to be a “real mistake”.

She said: “I hope if he doesn’t play it’s his decision because the whole lost pedestrian incident is terrible for everyone involved in the PGA Championship this week. I hope it’s not because he’s being held by the police and can’t come here.

“It’s an extraordinary situation. I can hardly believe that they wouldn’t accept it as a real mistake. It was chaos. There were 50 police cars at the gate through which we came in with our bus. You wouldn’t have known what you were doing at that point.

“As a golfer, you think, ‘Okay, I have to get there, I have my tee time.’ At that point, the delay hadn’t been set yet, so you have to get there as quickly as possible.

“I’m sure he wasn’t playing the ‘I’m Scottie Scheffler’ card. He just wanted to get in. It was a real mistake and let’s just hope common sense prevails.

“But if Scottie is upset enough about it, he doesn’t have to play, and that’s the only way I’d want to see him not play today.”

Dame Laura added: “It’s one of those situations where only he knows if he’s going to make it after everything that’s happened in the last two hours and being in a police station…

“He’s just had the new baby, he might just want to go home, see his wife and his new baby and just put what happened to him behind him – not the incident with the pedestrian who was hit, that’s obviously a completely different issue.

“But hopefully he plays. We want him to play.”

His colleague Wayne Riley said that after the fatal accident, some players had questioned whether or not the game should take place that day.

Riley told Sky Sports Golf: “So many players have said to me, ‘I can’t believe they’re actually playing today.’ I feel like I feel like people are saying, ‘Someone lost their life here today, Scottie was taken away,’ and it’s one of those moments where we’re like, ‘Are we going into Monday?’

“That won’t happen, we’ll move on to the second round of the PGA Championship.”