Panicking Scottie Scheffler Used Rory McIlroy to Defuse Tension After Arrest; Stunned Fans Say, ‘He’s So Chill’

A lot of drama took place during and after the 2024 PGA Championship and the main character of this story was Scottie Scheffler! His arrest, his arraignment, and subsequent dropping of charges by the Louisville Metro Police Department have undoubtedly been the talk of the golf town for weeks now. The whole incident has once again grabbed the attention of the golf community. The reason? A new bodycam footage was made public a few hours ago, showing the pro in the back of a cop car in conversation with the officer about a fellow PGA Tour pro, Rory McIlroy.

NUCLR GOLF shared the tweet consisting of the video on their X handle (formerly Twitter). It showed a police officer driving the car as Scheffler recounted the time when the Northern Irishman was given a police escort by the department during the 2012 Ryder Cup at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois.

“[The Ryder Cup] is a team competition for golf,” explained the American professional to the officer, who seemed to be unaware of the same, “It’s like the biggest tournament in golf besides… the Masters.” He went ahead to narrate the events that took place back at the biennial tournament: “And Rory, who was the best player in the world at the time, slept through his alarm and he was gonna miss his tee time, and they gave him like a six-car police escort…” Scheffler then made sure to point out how the 4-time major champ won the match as well to which the officer exclaimed in surprise. The video, surprisingly, doesn’t end there as the golfer also recalled how he played with former President Donald Trump two years ago.

The recording sure did come out as a surprise to the community. Especially after charges were dropped against the 2-time major champ owing to many reasons, including a lack of bodycam footage from officer Bryan Gillis, among others. Although many did speculate some sort of legal action from Scheffler’s side, nothing of that sort happened; “As I stated before this was an unfortunate misunderstanding. I hold no ill will towards Officer Gillis. I wish to put the incident behind me and move on, and I hope he will do the same.”

The fans, meanwhile, didn’t shy away from reacting to the video, as they took to comment under the tweet shared by NUCLR GOLF. The responses, interestingly, included many followers reacting to the 2024 Masters champ talking so casually to the police when he was arrested just ahead of his tee time at a major championship, and that too when he would have obviously been panicking!

Netizens respond to the ‘chill’ Scottie Scheffler’s interaction with the police

The golfer was detained on the second day of the 2024 PGA Championship after he was stopped by Gillis while trying to enter Valhalla for the day’s play. The officer alleged that the pro didn’t listen to his instructions and accelerated his vehicle, resulting in him being dragged through the ground and receiving injuries. The body cam footage is of Scottie Scheffler talking to another policeman after he was detained following the events following which he would soon be charged with a felony second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief; reckless driving; and disregarding traffic signals from a officer directing traffic.

A fan thus pointed out, “Scotty breaking the number one rule, don’t talk to the police,” while another dubbed the situation as funny; “This is just hilarious.” At the same time, there were followers who only noticed the 27-year-old’s calm demeanor during what others would deem a stressful situation, as they commented, “He’s so chill,” and “This is so Scotty.” One can’t help but commend the golfer (as well as the ‘kind’ officer) for keeping his composure at the time despite divulging how rattled he was later on: “I was pretty rattled, to say the least. The officer that took me to the jail was very kind. He was great. We had a nice chat in the car… I was shaking the whole time. I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me.”

Although McIlroy faced a setback in reaching the course, back in the 2012 Ryder Cup, owing to the mistake he made reading the wrong time zone, he managed to win his singles match against Keegan Bradley. The Northern Irishman beat the American 2-1, bagging a crucial point for Team Europe. This, in turn, helped the squad, which was down 10-6, clinch a victory by beating their rivals with a score of 14.5–13.5 in a comeback that would be called the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ for years to come. Even so, there are people who aren’t aware of such an event, which the community found odd: “Guy has never even heard of the Ryder Cup. Smh,” and “Cop has never heard of the Ryder Cup?”

The video does portray the American PGA Tour Pro as the calm and composed guy he always is. His choosing not to go ahead with legal action after experiencing such an ordeal just adds to his good nature. One can’t help but agree with Scottie Scheffler’s words; “Just because somebody made a mistake at one point in their life doesn’t mean that they’re a bad person.”