Cameron Young and Will Zalatoris were spotted walking down the road to Valhalla on Friday morning.
Twitter.com/IrishGolfDesk, Nick Piastowski
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — While much of the attention at Friday's PGA Championship was paid to Scottie Scheffler's arrest and chaotic arrival, it didn't go well for the rest of the field. Due to the many traffic backups following the early morning accident on the only access road, many players are forced to take action with their hands – or rather, their feet.
Cameron Young and Will Zalatoris were found walking along Shelbyville Road, the main access road to Valhalla, about half a mile from the club's entrance. It was before 8 am, and they were already arriving late. Zalatoris felt he had no choice, telling The Athletic's Gabby Herzig that he walked two miles down the road just to beat traffic.
The backup was related to a fatal accident about three hours earlier, when a train driver hit an event worker who was on foot, just after 5 a.m. Local authorities on the five-lane stretch of Highway 60 – which crosses the entire state of Kentucky- led to backups for most of the week. So much so that Zalatori advised his parents not to come to the course. The two outer lanes have been closed to pedestrians and police, while the innermost lane has been used for turning cars, honor vehicles and shuttles. In other words, there is not much space.
Due to the danger zone, players are directed by the PGA of America to avoid accessing the course from the east, and instead to access it exclusively from the west. That took (at least) an extra 20 minutes of driving time, according to Harris English, and led to more vehicles in the only tow.
Why was Scottie Scheffler arrested? Here's what the police said
Alan Bastable
“There are a lot of traffic cones and you don't really know which way to go,” said English. “We're definitely a little busier than usual on the golf course. Obviously this morning, it's dark, it's raining, it's hard to see anyway, and you've got a lot of lights around, you've got a lot of people shouting and pointing and all these things. It was very chaotic to get to the course.”
For Mackenzie Hughes, her usual 30-minute commute tripled to an hour and a half. As a result, the tournament was delayed for 80 minutes, which was just enough time for Scheffler – who had been arrested for an unrelated incident with a police officer – to be released and put back in time. compete with each other. Zalatoris also told Herzig that he was part of a group of players who considered asking the PGA to delay the entire event by four or five hours to get everything in place.
“Someone picked me up, the championship driver picked me up, and obviously it was a mess,” said Thomas Detry after his round. “There were police everywhere.”
Traffic backups can be common at major golf tournaments where attendance numbers top 50,000 a day. It comes with a field. Players and caddies had to drive through oncoming traffic during the 2021 Ryder Cup in rural Wisconsin because the traffic was so bad. But backups rarely leave players without their cars.
Austin Eckroat was not far behind Zalatoris and Young, in his luxury car, watching the local television broadcast.
“The first thing I saw was Scottie in handcuffs,” Eckroat said. “I was like, 'What in the world is going on?' It was a strange morning.”
Ironically, Eckroat got out of the driver's seat and asked his wife to drive the rest of the way, choosing to hoof the 1.5 miles to the gate.
“It was a strange morning,” she said. “It's something I've never seen before.”
Source link
