‘Free Scottie!’ Scheffler superfans present help at PGA event after golf No1’s arrest

Followers of Scottie Scheffler confirmed as much as help the world’s No.1 golfer on the PGA Championship in specially-printed t-shirts following his arrest for assaulting a police officer on Friday.

Numerous supporters had been seen across the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Course in Kentucky sporting “Free Scottie” tees after Scheffler spent a number of hours that morning in a Louisville jail.

One fan was in an orange jumpsuit just like the one Scheffler wore when his mugshot was taken on the jail. The t-shirts had been obtainable for buy within the car parking zone, based on the Related Press.

“He’s the perfect man on the market proper now, each as a participant and an individual,” John Glenwood, of Louisville, informed the AP. “We’re right here to help him.”

Nonetheless questions had been raised over why the golfer was launched so shortly from jail after being charged with a felony and a number of other misdemeanours.

The 27-year-old Texan was arrested outdoors the membership simply after 6am on Friday, taken to jail, wearing an orange jumpsuit and had his mugshot taken.

Along with the assault felony, he was charged with prison mischief, reckless driving and disregarding alerts from an officer directing site visitors — all misdemeanours.

He was launched and made his 10am tee time on Friday within the second spherical of the event.

“A person drags a cop together with his automobile and hospitalizes him. He’s arrested … charged with a felony … after which instantly launched so he could make his tee time? Did I get that proper?” stated Ricky L. Jones, a College of Louisville professor of pan-African research, on the social platform X.

Invoice Miller, an area golf fan who was on the course on Friday, stated it forged Louisville and the police in a unfavorable mild.

“It’s simply one other unhealthy search for the town,” Miller stated. “I’d need to perceive what the cop was attempting to do. But it surely’s unhappy.”

Scheffler was arrested after attempting to drive into Valhalla Golf Membership in heavy site visitors brought on by an earlier, unrelated accident wherein a male pedestrian died after being struck by a shuttle bus.

In response to the police report, Detective Bryan Gillis stopped Scheffler’s automotive and “tried to offer instruction” to the Masters champion, who’s competing within the US PGA Championship.

The report alleges Scheffler refused to conform and “accelerated ahead, dragging Detective Gillis to the bottom”.

After being launched on his personal recognizance and pushed to the course, Scheffler carded a second spherical of 66 to lie three photographs behind midway lead Xander Schauffele.

“So far as greatest rounds of my profession, I might say it was fairly good,” Scheffler stated, after taking part in the spherical.

“I positively by no means imagined ever going to jail, and I positively by no means imagined going to jail the morning earlier than certainly one of my tee occasions.”

Scheffler’s lawyer insists he’s ready to go to trial if the cost of assaulting a police officer is just not dropped.

“They’ll both be dropped or we’ll go to trial as a result of he didn’t do something fallacious,” Steve Romines, Scheffler’s lawyer, informed Golf Channel.

“So we’re not eager about any form of settlement negotiations or something like that. It was only a huge miscommunication.

“There had been a site visitors fatality down the highway and so there have been differing site visitors instructions occurring and site visitors management officers had been advising various things.

“Scottie was suggested by one officer to go round and switch left into the power. However the officer who charged him clearly didn’t know that. So, that’s the place the miscommunication occurred.”

The golfer is about to be arraigned on Tuesday however that might be rescheduled. Romines added: “We’ll enter a plea of not responsible and get the subsequent court docket date.”

Mr Romines represented the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot in her residence by Louisville police in 2020, in a civil lawsuit in opposition to the town.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg informed native media shops on Saturday that there isn’t a police bodycam footage of Scheffler’s arrest.

The officer was directing site visitors on the time, and the division’s officers sometimes don’t document video with their physique cameras whereas directing site visitors, Kevin Trager, the mayor’s press secretary, wrote in a textual content message to an AP reporter.

With reporting from businesses