‘Must Be Unsettling’: Golf World Upset as European Pro Falls Victim to Vandalism a Week After Scottie Scheffler Debacle

A week after Scottie Scheffler’s altercation with the Louisville Metro Police Department at the PGA Championship and eventual arrest, another golf pro has now suffered misfortune. Playing at the Soudal Open, the 2-time DP World Tour winner found himself unable to drive his car in Belgium. But why?

Eddie Pepperell arrived at the Rinkven International GC in Antwerp, ready for the second round of the Soudal Open, only to discover his car shattered open. The 33-year-old’s rear windshield glass was vandalized with a huge metal piece. Pepperell posted visuals of the terrifying incident on X.

The English pro relayed how his Friday morning started on the wrong foot, and the whole experience was a bit similar to Scottie Scheffler’s Friday morning in Valhalla. Pepperell said, “A challenging Friday morning for me, not unlike Scottie last week. A bit shaken.” However, in the same post, the 2-time DP World Tour winner joked about the incident, drawing comparisons to what the World No. 1 had done next, that week (take on the Tour Chaplin as his caddie): “Off to find the nearest Mormon to carry my bag.”

The awful car break-in raised many questions for fans. They flooded Twitter with inquiries about whether he was safe and sound and empathized with the “unsettling” situation he was dealing with!

Fans worry for the safety of Eddie Pepperell

In partnership with Andrew Cotter, Eddie Pepperell runs the Chipping Forecast podcast and discusses the everyday events happening in the golf world. Recently, they even talked about Xander Schauffele’s PGA Championship victory. And in the next episode, one fan now wanted a full breakdown of the Friday morning incident, which left Pepperell short for words. “Looking forward to the story on The Chipping Forecast Eddie. Hope this doesn’t effect you making the cut today.”

There was no evidence of who broke into the car, and Pepperell did not share if anything was missing. The incident, however, appears quite mentally taxing from a distance. This golf enthusiast thought so too and empathized with the pro’s feelings at that time and said, “Sorry to see this Eddie, must be unsettling I am sure.”

Amid the traumatic experience, fans didn’t even shy away from dragging in the other side. One user belittled the LIV fans by saying that maybe one such breakaway league supporter broke his car while he was on his way to the Soudal Open. It certainly seems like rivalry may just never end. “Must’ve been one of those ghastly LIV supporters.”

There could be many reasons why someone would have damaged Peperell’s car. Of course, the safest assumption is that valuable baggage was probably in the car, so the intruder tried to steal it and ran away. This fan speculated exactly that and said, “Tell us you left luggage in view without telling us you left luggage in view.”

A lot of times car break-ins involve an injured party, and even though this wasn’t the case this time, one fan was above anything concerned for Pepperell’s safety as they asked, “Really hope your ok Eddie, that’s the most important thing.” Despite the car’s repairable damage, a potential injury would likely force Peperell to withdraw from the Soudal Open and dedicate some time to recuperation. Fortunately, of course, it didn’t come to that.

It certainly was not as disastrous a morning start as that of Scottie Scheffler, where he had to spend more than an hour behind bars and was charged with four grave charges, including a felony. However, Eddie Pepperell certainly did not expect the situation, which could have potentially made it worse than it already was.