JUST FOR LAUGHS
Scheffler moves on from arrest, eyes U.S. Open glory
PINEHURST,
North Carolina
(AFP) — Top-ranked
Scottie Scheffler can laugh at the internet-sensation tribute video to his arrest last month at the PGA Championship now that all charges have been dropped.
But it wasn’t so funny at the time, given the four auto-related charges included one for assaulting a Louisville, Kentucky, police officer who claimed Scheffler dragged him while accelerating.
Scheffler was hauled off to jail, had an infamous mugshot taken and still got released in time to return to Valhalla and fire a second-round
66. He soared to a 73 in the third round after saying the impact of the charges had sunk in and settled for an eighth-place finish.
Charges were dropped last month with prosecutors agreeing with
Scheffler the matter had been a
“big misunderstanding.”
That eased some of the pressure on
Scheffler, who won his fifth US PGA
Tour title of the year last week at Memorial and is a heavy favorite to win this week’s US Open at Pinehurst.
But it didn’t stop someone from arriving at the member-guest event on Monday at Wildwood Country Club in Louisville driving a black van with a dummy dressed as a police officer attached at the driver’s left side window and dragging along the ground — all to the tune of “Bad Boys” playing from the vehicle. Scheffler, already teased by pals about his misadventures with the law, heard about it from second-ranked Xander Schauffele, who won the PGA Championship, and others this week.
“It’s kind of hard not to laugh about the guy who did that,” Scheffler said.
“Xander did tell me about it yesterday. He got a pretty good kick out of it.” Scheffler admitted last week he is already tired of reliving the moment that became global news within minutes, thanks to a camera crew being near the club entrance where the arrest took place. “Like I said, I don’t love reliving it, but sometimes being able to laugh about it is a good skill, too,” Scheffler said. “When they make jokes, it’s definitely hard not to laugh, especially with some of my good buddies, they’re pretty funny with it.”
Scheffler, whose calm and composed manner is an on-course trademark, is happy to have golfers who are friends he can share a laugh with away from the competition.
“That’s part of just having good friends,” he said.
‘It’s kind of hard not to laugh about the guy who did that.’