PGA Championship 2024: Xander Schauffele leads after Scottie Scheffler plays on despite arrest

The Masters champion described his arrest outside Valhalla as a ‘big misunderstanding’ as he returned to shoot a five-under 66 and keep himself in contention at the halfway stage

Scottie Scheffler pleads for help after being detained by police

Xander Schauffele maintained a slender lead at the halfway stage of the PGA Championship after a day dominated by the chaotic arrest of Scottie Scheffler in the early hours of Friday morning at Valhalla.

The American had been attempting to make his way to the course ahead of the start of the second round, but was stopped by police over what he later called “a big misunderstanding”.

Scheffler was placed in handcuffs and arrested, before being charged by the Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections, with the second round pushed back by an hour and 20 minutes due to the fatal accident.

The 27-year-old was later released by police and produced a sparkling five-under-par 66 to remain in contention for his second major in as many months. The World No.1 sits three shots back of Schauffele who fired a three-under 69 to set the clubhouse lead at -12.

Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa and fellow American Sahith Theegala sit in contention at -11 and -10 respectively but Rory McIlroy’s bid to end his decade-long major drought stuttered after a disappointing even-par round.

Relive all the action from the second round of the PGA Championship below:

PGA Championship 2024

• Xander Schauffele holds one-shot lead over Collin Morikawa after dramatic second round
• Scheffler shoots five-under 66 having been arrested in the morning at Valhalla Golf Club entrance
• World No 1 still faces four charges, including ‘second-degree assault of a police officer’
• PGA of America confirms death of pedestrian after collision with shuttle bus outside Valhalla
• Tiger Woods misses cut after shooting costly second-round 77 to finish on +7
• Leaderboard: -12: Schauffele (68)
• -11: Morikawa (65); -10: Theegala (67)
• -9: Scheffler (66), Detry (67), Hubbard (68), DeChambeau (65)
• Selected others: -5: McIlroy (71); +7 Woods (77)

[18 May 2024 11:00 · Karl Matchett]

DAY TWO WRAP: Schauffele holds one-shot lead with Scheffler and Morikawa in chase

Olympic champion Xander Schauffele will take a one-shot lead into the third round of the 106th US PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Schauffele added a second round of 68 to his record-equalling opening 62 to reach 12 under, matching the championship scoring record in relation to par set by Brooks Koepka in 2019.

Former champion Collin Morikawa was a shot off the lead following a superb 65, with Sahith Theegala another stroke back and Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau part of a four-strong group on nine under.

Scheffler amazingly returned a 66 hours after being arrested – and subsequently released from police custody – following an incident outside the course.

[18 May 2024 10:30 · Karl Matchett]

Robert MacIntyre’s chance to win first major suffers blow after delayed ruling

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre was left to rue a delayed ruling as his chances of claiming a first major title suffered a significant blow in the US PGA Championship.

MacIntyre was just three shots off the lead when he hit a wild second shot on the par-five seventh, his 16th hole, which ended up in a concessions area.

The Ryder Cup star then had to get a second opinion about where he needed to drop his ball and, although he scrambled for an eventful par, dropped shots on the eighth and ninth left him five shots off Xander Schauffele’s lead.

[18 May 2024 10:00 · Karl Matchett]

Tiger Woods highlights impact of off-course commitments after missing cut

Tiger Woods highlighted the negative impact of his off-course commitments after missing the cut in the 106th US PGA Championship.

Woods carded a second round of 77 at Valhalla to finish seven over par, with all of the damage done in a three-hole stretch on the front nine.

The 15-time major winner ran up a triple bogey on the second, bogeyed the third and carded another triple bogey on the fourth to end his chances of making the weekend.

Woods, who played the remaining 14 holes in one under and almost made a hole-in-one on the eighth, said on Tuesday that his time-consuming role in negotiating a potential peace deal between golf’s warring factions could rule him out of the Ryder Cup captaincy in 2025.

And the 48-year-old indicated it was also reducing the time he has to prepare for his occasional competitive appearances.

[18 May 2024 09:30 · Ben Fleming]

Police report reveals details of Scottie Scheffler’s arrest as bus crash victim identified

The police arrest report for the world’s number-one golfer, Scottie Scheffler, reveals that a detective was dragged, hospitalized, and his $80 pants “damaged beyond repair”.

Scheffler was arrested early on Friday morning after he tried to bypass traffic outside Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

The 27-year-old Masters winner was scheduled to participate in the PGA Championships’ second round, and claims that he mistook police conducting traffic as gate security for the Valhalla course.

Police were actually investigating a fatal accident after a male employee was killed by a shuttle bus near the golf course.

[18 May 2024 09:00 · Karl Matchett]

Xander Schauffele leads as Scottie Scheffler posts impressive round following arrest and release

Olympic champion Xander Schauffele took a one-shot lead into the third round of an extraordinarily eventful US PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Schauffele added a second round of 68 to his record-equalling opening 62 to reach 12 under par, matching the championship scoring record in relation to par set by Brooks Koepka in 2019.

Former champion Collin Morikawa was a shot off the lead following a superb 65, with Sahith Theegala another stroke back and Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau part of a four-strong group on nine under.

Scheffler amazingly returned a 66 hours after being arrested – and subsequently released from police custody – following an incident outside the course.

[18 May 2024 08:30 · Ben Fleming]

Scheffler starts his day in jail, then finds peace and a chance to win in the midst of all the chaos

Perspective was even harder to come by than birdies through all the raindrops, bourbon and cigar smoke that streamed across golf’s biggest stage Friday during one of the sport’s most bizarre mornings ever.

By the time the world’s best player, Scottie Scheffler, had been booked into jail, had his mug shot taken, his police statement recorded, his release secured, entrepreneurs near Valhalla Golf Club were already selling “Free Scottie” T-shirts outside. Fans, some of them self-proclaimed Scottie lovers, were already wearing them inside.

And by the time Scheffler walked off the course, remarkably tied for third place at the PGA Championship after a round that looked as efficient as any he’s played of late, he had chipped away, birdie by birdie, at the notion that the pre-dawn scuffle with police, the trip downtown, that jail-issued orange shirt, or any of the endless snark and commentary that surrounded all of this would slow him down.

Was it a classic case of mind over matter? Or another illustration of the public’s ever-growing thirst for a round-the-clock reality-show life? Depends on who you ask.

[18 May 2024 07:30 · Ben Fleming]

Scheffler’s prompt release from jail rankles some who recall city’s police turmoil

World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler’s arrest and prompt release from a Louisville jail Friday that let him play in a high-profile tournament after being booked on charges including felony assault has rankled some who question whether he was given preferential treatment because of his fame.

They recall what they consider malfeasance by the Louisville police department, which a national report last year found has used excessive force and invalid search warrants, and wonder why Scheffler was released so quickly.

Police are continuing their investigation, but here’s a look at the incident and policing in Louisville:

[18 May 2024 06:30 · Ben Fleming]

Scottie Scheffler" ‘stretching in a jail cell was a first’ after arrest at PGA Championship

Golf pro Scottie Scheffler says that “stretching in a jail cell was a first” for him, after being arrested the morning before returning to play in the PGA Championship.

The world number one said at a press conference that his head was “still spinning” from the day’s events and that he had “never imagined going to jail,” least of all before a tee time.

Read the full story here:

[18 May 2024 05:30 · Ben Fleming]

Watch: Scottie Scheffler pleads for help after being detained by police

[18 May 2024 04:30 · Ben Fleming]

Scottie Scheffler isn't the first pro golfer to be arrested during a tournament

Scottie Scheffler‘s arrest hours before his second-round tee time at the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, will go down as one of the most shocking in professional golf history. It certainly wasn’t the first, though.

Tiger Woods and John Daly are probably the highest-profile golfers to wear handcuffs, but Scheffler’s arrest is very different because it happened while he was competing in a tournament — a major championship, no less.

Woods was arrested in 2017 on suspicion of driving under the influence when he was found asleep in the driver’s seat of his Mercedes-Benz while he was recovering from back surgery. Daly was taken into custody in North Carolina in October 2008 after he was found drunk outside a Hooters restaurant and held until he could get sober.

At least five other pro golfers — Robert Allenby, Steven Bowditch, Matt Every, Joe Ogilvie and Jack McGurn — have been arrested either during or around a tournament.

Read more below.