Criminal charges against Scottie Scheffler were dismissed in a Louisville court

Twelve days after Scottie Scheffler, the world's top-ranked male golfer, was arrested and charged with three counts of assault and one count of interfering with a police officer outside the gates of the PGA Championship, those charges have been dropped.

Scheffler was sentenced in a Louisville court Wednesday morning when Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell, the lead prosecutor in the investigation, told the judge that after he and his team reviewed the evidence against Scheffler, they found no reason to proceed with the charges. .

The incident in question occurred during a police investigation into the death of pedestrians and traffic that caused damage outside the Valhalla Golf Club on the Friday morning of PGA Championship week. According to a police report, Scheffler attempted to bypass the backup by pulling into traffic in the adjacent lane, where Louisville Metro Police Detective Bryan Gillis was directing traffic. Gillis said he stopped Scheffler and tried to give him instructions, but Scheffler “refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging him to the ground.”

Gillis arrested Scheffler a short time later. On the other hand, Scheffler, in a statement, described the situation as “very chaotic,” adding, “There was a misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do.” I never intended to disobey any orders.”

In court on Wednesday, O'Connell said: “Mr. Scheffler's explanation that this was a 'big misunderstanding' is borne out by the evidence. The evidence we review supports the conclusion that Detective Gillis was concerned for the safety of the public at the scene when he first contacted Mr. Scheffler. However, the actions of Mr. Scheffler and the evidence surrounding their exchange during this misunderstanding did not satisfy the elements of any criminal charges.

“For these reasons, Judge, I am now giving the court a proposal to withdraw all the charges against Mr. Scheffler with discrimination.”

Scheffler is not playing this week. His next scheduled start is at the Memorial Tournament, in Ohio, next week.

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As editor-in-chief of GOLF.com, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the game's most respected and heavily trafficked news and services outlets. He wears many hats – planning, writing, imagining, developing, dreaming in one day when he breaks 80 – and feels privileged to work with an insanely smart and hard-working team of writers, editors and producers. Before taking over GOLF.com, he was the features editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.