Scottie Scheffler, wife Meredith, and son Bennett celebrate his win at the 2024 Travelers Championship. | Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Scottie Scheffler talked about his PGA Championship arrest on a podcast, and his tales will leave you laughing.
One moment stands above all else when reflecting on the wild, captivating, and entertaining 2024 golf season.
Scottie Scheffler’s absurd arrest on Friday morning of the 2024 PGA Championship takes the cake. When Louisville Metro Police detained Scheffler a mere hours before his second-round tee time, the entire sporting world’s collective jaws dropped in disbelief. The World No. 1, the reigning Masters champion, and the man who had won four events already this season now sat in the back of a police car, hoping to be released to make it back for his second round.
He eventually did, going from a jail cell to shooting a splendid 5-under 66 under the most stressful circumstances. The police dropped the charges a week later, but the internet remains undefeated.
Given that Halloween is approaching, fans decided to have fun with this incident, as depicted by the costumes below.
X user @caddieuniform posted costumes for two young kids on Oct. 7: one wearing an orange jumpsuit with “SCHEFFLER” while the other donned a police uniform, placing the inmate in handcuffs.
The image eventually reached Scheffler, who had a good chuckle and told the story about it on Golf.com’s SUBPAR podcast with Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz.
“I did see it. I am not online, but when something really good comes out, someone will inevitably show it to me,” Scheffler explained.
“This time, it was actually [my wife] Meredith. We were flying home, and she was on her phone. She turned to me and started losing it, laughing. She turns around and says, ‘Look at this.’”
When asked what he would do if two kids showed up at his front door on Halloween dressed up as him and Bryan Gillis, the officer who made the arrest, Scheffler gave a great response.
“I don’t know what I would do, but I would probably just give them the whole basket [of candy],” Scheffler joked.
“Take it all. You guys win.”
Of course, golf fans on the internet—and on the grounds at Valhalla—had plenty of fun with this bit on that infamous day. Almost immediately after Scheffler’s mugshot became public, images of his face circulated across social media. It then made its way onto tee shirts, which some golf fans wore to the course during the second round of play.
“Yeah, I think I saw [the ‘Free Scottie’] shirts for the first time on Hole No. 12 that day,” Scheffler said.
“I saw pictures of my mugshots pretty early in that round. I don’t remember where specifically, but I remember thinking, ‘Dang! Those guys made those fast.’”
At least Scheffler can laugh about this wild experience now. The rest of the golfing world can, too.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
