LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY | Sitting inside the scoring area adjacent to the clubhouse at Valhalla Golf Club, Scottie Scheffler exhaled as his work had been done.
He had signed his scorecard, making official a closing 6-under 65, and all that was left was to do a few quick interviews, hop in a car to the airport and fly home to his wife and new baby in Dallas.
For a moment, Scheffler almost checked out.
“I put my head down on the scorer's table and I think I about fell asleep, so I'm just kind of just wondering what time bedtime is,” Scheffler said.
By now, the timeline of Scheffler’s past two weeks has become jarringly familiar.
The Schefflers’ first child, son Bennett, was born May 8. A few days later, Scheffler was here at Valhalla as the heavy pre-tournament favorite in the 106th PGA Championship, having won his last two starts and the season’s first major, the Masters, and then Friday morning happened.
“I think I’m just fairly tired and ready to get home.”
Scottie Scheffler
The arrest. The mugshot. The race back to the PGA Championship. A second-round 66 that put Scheffler among the leaders. By Saturday, the effects of Friday were felt, leading to a third-round 73 that, as nice as the Sunday finish was, the scoreboard damage had been done.
Playing the 18th hole Sunday, Scheffler received a rousing ovation as he approached the green and again when he climbed the gentle slope toward the clubhouse. He waved his white cap to the crowd, and every step took him closer to the end of a week like none other.
Asked to describe his week, Scheffler chuckled.
“I think ‘hectic’ would probably be a good description,” he said.
Leaving Louisville doesn’t mean Scheffler can leave behind the legal ramifications of his Friday morning arrest that led to four charges, including one felony count.
There is an arraignment scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday. When asked whether he was required to appear, Scheffler was non-committal, explaining that he had spent most of the day on the course. He is on the entry list for the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, this week and Scheffler said it is his intention to play.
“I think it's all up in the air,” he said. “I'm not really sure what the next days have in store.”
Just getting to Sunday afternoon tested Scheffler in ways that he never expected. The blur of Friday morning melted into an adrenalin run Friday afternoon which seemed to leave Scheffler with an empty tank by Saturday.
“I think I would attribute [the Saturday score] mostly to a bad day. I think when you come out here to compete, you're out here competing, you're doing what you can throughout the course of the round to post a score, and I wasn't able to get that done yesterday,” Scheffler said.
“Did I feel like myself? Absolutely not. Was my warmup the way it usually is and the distractions where they normally are? Absolutely not. But I'm not going to sit here and say that's why I went out and played a bad round of golf yesterday. I got arrested Friday morning, and I showed up here and played a good round of golf, as well…
“I think I'm just fairly tired and ready to get home.”
Ron Green Jr.