Scottie Scheffler has WORST opening round since last year as new footage of golf star ‘nudging’ cop with car emerges
GOLF star Scottie Scheffler endured his worst opening round in almost a year at the Charles Schwab Challenge on Thursday.
The world No1 carded a disappointing two-over 72 at Colonial Country Club in Texas.
It was his first over-par opening round since the Tour Championship last August.
Scheffler‘s uncharacteristic struggles came just days after his shock arrest in Louisville, Kentucky.
The 27-year-old was detained by police outside Valhalla Golf Course just hours before he was due to tee off at the PGA Championship last Friday.
He allegedly failed to follow police orders after a pedestrian was fatally struck by a shuttle bus in the early hours of the morning.
Scheffler was dragged out of his vehicle by two officers before being driven away in a cop car.
He now faces charges of second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic.
The Masters champion was originally due to be arraigned on Tuesday, May 21 but his trial has been pushed back to Monday, June 3.
Discussing his ordeal on Friday, Scheffler told reporters: “It was a chaotic situation and a big misunderstanding. My head is still spinning.
“I was pretty rattled, to say the least… I was never angry, I was just in shock. I was shaking for about an hour.”
He then went on to reveal that he bonded with the police officer who drove him to the station.
He said: “We had a nice chat in the car that kind of helped calm me down. I was sitting there waiting to go in and I asked him ‘Can you just come hang out with me for a few minutes so I can calm down?’.
“When I was sitting in the holding cell, there was a TV there and I could see myself on the TV.”
What happened?
Traffic had been backed up for about a mile in both directions on a road which led to Valhalla Golf Club, where the PGA Championship was being held, on the morning of May 17 after an earlier fatal accident.
Witnesses claimed Scheffler tried to drive around what he believed to be security staff.
The golfer reportedly stepped out of his car when a cop attached himself to his vehicle and screamed at him to stop driving.
Arresting officer Bryan Gillis, who is said to have not had his bodycam switched on, had tried to give Scheffler instructions amid the traffic chaos outside Valhalla, according to a police report.
But the golfer “refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground,” the report claimed.
The detective was reported to have “suffered pain, swelling, and abrasions to his left wrist and knee”.
Video from the scene showed him being cuffed and bundled into a police car – before he was dressed in an orange shirt for a mugshot at a Louisville police station.
He returned to the golf course less than an hour before he teed off in the Championship’s second round.
Scheffler was charged with a felony offence of second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer.
In a statement released by the pro while he was warming up, he said: “This morning, I was proceeding as directed by police officers.
“It was a very chaotic situation, understandably so considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier, and there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do.
“I never intended to disregard any of the instructions.”