Scottie Scheffler explains why he didn’t sue police after PGA Championship arrest (though he was ready!)

“I thought you were going to ask me about golf!” Scottie Scheffler smiles as the first question of his latest press conference is regarding the continued fallout following his bizarre brush with the law at the PGA Championship.

Scheffler was handcuffed and booked by Louisville police officer Bryan Gillis following an altercation as the World No 1 attempted to enter the grounds at Valhalla ahead of his second round.

Since then, after statements from both Scheffler and Gillis, it has been confirmed all charges will be dropped, and Scheffler is free to going back to doing what he does best – starting this week at The Memorial.

“I had a good idea at the end of the week at Colonial that they were going to be dropped,” he told reporters at Muirfield Village. “Obviously, we had a lot of evidence on our side. We needed to let the legal process play out at that point.

“Towards the end of the week at Colonial, my lawyer used the term, ‘It went from a one-foot putt to it’s on the lip.’ I think Friday afternoon it was pretty official in our mind. They just needed to meet with the judge to go over details and stuff like that.”

When asked if he has “moved past” the incident, Scheffler added: “No, I definitely hadn’t moved past it. Now it’s almost more appropriate for people to ask me about it and, to be honest with you, it’s not something that I love reliving, just because it was fairly traumatic for me being arrested going into the golf course.

“So it’s not something I love talking about and it’s something that I’m hoping to move past.

“But when the charges are dropped, that’s only the beginning of getting past it. It was definitely a bit of a relief, but not total relief because that’s something that will always stick with me.

“That mug shot, I’m sure, is not going anywhere anytime soon.”

• All charges against Scottie Scheffler dropped

• Xander Schauffele reveals how PGA Tour stars roasted Scottie Scheffler after arrest

Other than a desire to move on with his life, Scheffler also revealed why he was keen not to take legal action against the Louisville Police Department – though Steve Romines, his no-nonsense lawyer, was on hand to go in hard if needed.

“Steve was more than ready,” Scheffler replied when asked if he considered a lawsuit of his own. “There was a ton of evidence in our favour. There was eyewitnesses on the scene that corroborated my story and the video evidence, the police officer talking to me after.

“All the evidence pointed to exactly what my side of the story was, and so if we needed to, Steve was more than prepared to pursue legal action.

But I did not want to have to pursue legal action against Louisville because, at the end of the day, the people of Louisville are then going to have to pay for the mistakes of their police department, and that just doesn’t seem right.

“So at no point did I ever want to sue them, but if it came there, I think my lawyer was more than prepared to use that as a bargaining chip-type thing more than anything.”

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Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor