Newly released video footage has been released of PGA Tour star Scottie Scheffler’s high-profile arrest outside Valhalla Golf Club during last month’s PGA Championship — though key moments still remain missing from the recordings.
The Louisville Metro Police Department made public a video this week from the early morning incident on May 17.
Take a look at some of the footage —
This appears to be the initial “incident” with Scottie scheffler
Looks like he’s slowly crawling his way into the entrance and the cop runs over, smacks his windshield with something, and Scheffler immediately stops the car.
— 🇺🇸 Pismo 🇺🇸 (@Pismo_B) May 23, 2024
None of the released footage shows the exact instigation point when Scheffler allegedly ignored officers’ traffic instructions, the visual evidence offers a glimpse of the chaotic scene as the world’s top-ranked golfer tried to make his way through blocked-off roads and into the Kentucky course ahead of his second round tee time.
The grainy fixed camera video captures what appears to be a police officer approaching Scheffler’s vehicle after he turned into a blocked lain in the dark outside Valhalla’s entrance. Just out of frame, officers had reportedly erected a temporary barricade due to a fatal accident hours earlier when a 69-year-old tournament vendor was struck and killed by a bus in the area.
The longer dashcam footage shows a line of vehicles, buses and police cruisers waiting to access the course entrance, with officers surveying the traffic situation in the midst of the nearby accident’s aftermath.
Here's a sequenced video of the key moments of both feeds from the Scheffler arrest, pole and dash cam, courtesy of @SomersF1 pic.twitter.com/eV4Hc1M00H
— Shane Ryan (Trustworthy) (@ShaneRyanHere) May 23, 2024
According to the arrest citation, Scheffler allegedly tried to maneuver his car around the barricades “and did not stop when Detective Bryan Gillis tried to give him instructions.” Gillis claimed he was then dragged and injured by Scheffler’s vehicle as it continued forward before the golfer was taken into custody.
However, that moment was outside the frame of both videos released this week. Gillis admittedly failed to activate his body-worn camera in violation of LMPD policies, and he received “corrective action” for that lapse.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said that mistake resulted in an absence of footage capturing the “initial interaction” that led to Scheffler’s arrest.
Scheffler’s attorney, Steven Romines, shot back that the criminal charges lack merit and evidence.
“[Scheffler] didn’t do anything wrong,” Romines told reporters after a press conference unveiling the videos. “Either try or dismiss this. It’s very simple … I’ve seen everything that there is to see.”
Scheffler himself claimed that a “chaotic situation” with a “big misunderstanding” led to the incident. Scheffler said he was forced to do his PGA Championship warmup drills in a jail cell before being released.
Mayor Greenberg said both the city and the star golfer are “looking to move forward” from the incident that became a cloud over the PGA Championship’s final rounds.
But with Scheffler rejecting any potential settlement and the charges still pending, a trial appears inevitable.