Scottie Scheffler shoots 66 at PGA Championship after jail warm up

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After warming up for the second round of the PGA Championship in a jail cell, Scottie Scheffler shot a five-under-par 66 at Valhalla Golf Club.

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In one of the strangest days in major championship history, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was arrested on his way to the golf course but released in time to stay in contention heading to the weekend in Louisville, Ky.

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“I feel like my head is still spinning. I can’t really explain what happened this morning,” Scheffler said as video of his arrest played on a monitor above him in what was possibly the most bizarre post-round press conference in golf history. “I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me. That was part of my warmup.

“I was just sitting there waiting and I started going through my warmup, I felt like there was a chance I may be able to still come out here and play.”

That’s exactly what happened as Scheffler was released from jail after being charged with four offences from an early morning incident with police on his way to the course. Following a fatal accident involving a pedestrian and a shuttle bus outside the gates of the course, Scheffler allegedly attempted to circumvent traffic in his courtesy car.

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“My situation will get handled. It was a chaotic situation and a big misunderstanding. I can’t comment on any of the specifics of it … but my situation will be handled. It was just a big misunderstanding,” he said. “My heart goes out to the family.”

Scheffler somehow managed to not only play golf, but shoot one stroke better than he did in Thursday’s opening round. The Masters champion will head to the weekend at nine-under with a chance to win the first two legs of the single-season grand slam.

“I started going through my routine and I tried to get my heart rate down as much as I could today, but like I said, I still feel like my head is spinning a little bit. But I was fortunate to be able to make it back out and play some golf today.”

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Scheffler made six birdies against a single bogey in a round that can only add to his reputation as an unflappable competitor. Although the 27-year-old Texan and new father says he was plenty unnerved by the incident.

“I was pretty rattled to say the least,” he said. “The officer that took me to the jail was very kind. He was great. We had a nice chat in the car, that kind of helped calm me down. … I was never angry. I was just in shock, my body was just — I was shaking the whole time. I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me.

“This one older officer looked at me as I was doing my fingerprints or whatever, and he looks at me and he goes, ‘So do you want the full experience today?’ I kind of looked at him, and I was like, I don’t know how to answer that. He’s like, ‘Come on, man, you want a sandwich?’ I was like, Sure, I’ll take a sandwich. I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. I mean, they were really kind. I’m grateful that we have such strong police, and they’re our protectors out there, and like I said, we just got into a chaotic situation this morning. That’s really all it was.”

MORE TO COME…

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