Scottie Scheffler Conquers the PGA Championship: From Jail to Glory in a Year
A year and a day after his mugshot was the most talked-about image of the PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler lifted the Wanamaker Trophy in front of everyone on Sunday. The world number one achieved his third major at Quail Hollow Club.
Scheffler signed a card of 70 strokes in the final round of the 107th PGA Championship, securing a five-stroke victory over Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau, and Davis Riley. What seemed inevitable at the start of the day faltered briefly when Scheffler reached the 9th hole and tied with Spaniard Jon Rahm on a hot and humid afternoon in North Carolina.
However, Scheffler accelerated on the last nine holes, as he has done so many times before, while Rahm struggled on the “Green Mile”, the dangerous final three-hole section of Quail Hollow.
In just 366 days, Scheffler’s story went from being handcuffed in a police car to adding the Wanamaker Trophy to an already impressive career, which includes two Masters green jackets.
Scheffler joined Seve Ballesteros as the only golfers in the last 100 years to win each of their first three majors by more than three strokes. He won the 2022 Masters by three strokes over Rory McIlroy and the 2024 Masters by four over Ludvig Åberg.
This was Scheffler’s 15th victory, at 28 years old, on the PGA Tour. Since World War II, only two other golfers have won 15 times on the tour and have achieved three majors before the age of 29: Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
After squandering a three-stroke lead, Scheffler regained it with a 9-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole. He went two strokes ahead with a 7-foot putt on the 14th hole, and then led by three when Rahm made his first bogey of the round on the 16th hole.
Another birdie on the 15th hole gave Scheffler a four-stroke lead entering the “Green Mile.” That lead grew to five before reaching the 16th hole green.
Rahm was tied with Scheffler at 9-under after his 12th hole. He had good birdie opportunities on holes 13 and 14, but missed both. After making par on the 15th hole, Rahm sent his tee shot on the 16th hole, a par 4, far left, leading to a bogey.
On the 17th hole, a par 3, his tee shot bounced off the green and into the water, resulting in a double bogey 5. On the final hole, he hit his drive into the creek on the left side, leading to another double bogey. He finished five over par on his final three holes and tied for eighth place at 4 under par.
Scheffler started the day with a three-stroke lead, but by the time he reached the 9th hole with a 2-over-par 37, his lead had been cut to one over Rahm, who birdied the 8th and 10th holes to close in.
Rahm, who began the round five strokes behind Scheffler, tied for the lead with another birdie on the 11th hole, a par 4. Rahm struggled with his tee shots, hitting only two of the first 10 fairways, but needed only 13 putts in the first 11 holes. He had brilliant short game when he missed the green and avoided bogeys.
The situation for Scheffler was very different from that of last year’s PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
On May 17, 2024, Scheffler found himself in the back of a police car after an officer with the Louisville Metro Police said the golfer disobeyed his order to stop and tried to drive around the scene of an accident on a median. Traffic outside the golf course had stopped after a man was struck and killed by a bus around 5 a.m. ET.
An arrest report said Detective Bryan Gillis was dragged “to the ground” and suffered “pain, swelling, and abrasions to his left wrist” after Scheffler’s car “accelerated forward.”
Scheffler faced charges of second-degree assault on a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic. The assault charge was a felony; the others were misdemeanors.
Twelve days after Scheffler’s arrest, Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell dropped the charges against Scheffler. O’Connell said Scheffler’s characterization of the incident as a “big misunderstanding” was corroborated by the evidence.
Before last year’s PGA Championship, Scheffler had won four of his last five starts, including his second Masters victory that April. After being booked at a downtown detention center, he was released on bail less than an hour and a half before his second-round tee time.
Somehow, Scheffler managed a round of 66, five-under-par, that day. He fell to a 73, two-over-par, in the third round, which took him out of contention. He recovered with a 65 on Sunday and tied for eighth at 13-under-par, eight strokes behind winner Xander Schauffele.
