An emergency reaction pod was in order after the shocking news that the sports world woke up to this morning: Scottie Scheffler, the #1 player in the world and betting favorite heading into the week at the PGA Championship, was arrested in the early hours of the morning on felony charges as he attempted to enter Valhalla Golf Club in the wake of a fatal traffic accident. Smylie Kaufman and Charlie Hulme lay out the timeline of events, discuss how it could have been handled differently, and look forward to the day ahead with Scottie back on the course and playing in the second round of the PGA Championship.
The Smylie Show
EMERGENCY POD: Scottie Scheffler's arrest by the Louisville PD, and return to the PGA Championship
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We're here with another episode of the smiley show and this is an emergency pod because we're reacting to the breaking news of the day here from Louisville, Kentucky that Scottie Scheffler was arrested, detained, subsequently released and now on the golf course here at the PGA Championship. Really a wild turn of events. And I think the first thing we need to say before anything else is there is a somber undertonedness because the reason everything happened the way it did is that there was a worker for one of the vendors at the tournament who lost his life today, was an incident with a bus, a traffic accident and obviously our deepest sympathies and condolences to his family. Scottie Scheffler noted the same and the statement he put out in the wake of this but smiley just to wake up to this news. I know I had close to 200 text messages. I'm sure you had the same maybe even more. I mean, what is it like waking up on a Friday? And a major championship and this is the first thing you read. I know I was about to go knock on your door. I had woken up earlier than you and all my group texts were coming through. I was on a text with Adam Scheffter as well and he was chiming in as well, getting the NFL's best inside scoop reporter. He's all in on the golf. So just from a timeline standpoint, you know, when I was kind of seeing the videos of Jeff Darlington I believe is the name of the media reporter that was on site. And if you haven't seen that, it kind of just tells a story of exactly what the situation was, a rainy, not very light out this morning. Visibility wasn't great. But the PGA tour players, excuse me, all the players playing this week were sent out attacks about the incident that Charlie has already referred to this morning that happened at 5 a.m., come 6 a.m., that's when Scotty Scheffter and the incident supposedly happened. First tee time was at 7 15 a.m. this morning. So you have to assume that players were already on site and making it through the gate. So with that being said, you know, the text that was sent was told for the players to drive eastbound and that's the only way to get in to the course via gate one. And Scotty was going eastbound. He wasn't the first tee time, so he wasn't the first player to do this. Allegedly drove in the westbound traffic trying to get around what he felt like was a situation where he was able to avoid the traffic, just kind of pop right into where that front gate is driving. And for a player that's has driven and not in this type of situation, but in a area that's really congested with traffic where we just know as a player with our marked car, with the PGA Championship logo, or for instance another courtesy car logo at another event, I've done it before. I've driven past security and to be able to get to where we can get on the golf course and get our day started. So it's not unusual, but there obviously, there's some pretty difficult circumstances that I imagine had the detectives, the cops all on high alert to make sure that they did their job and what, which was a crime scene or whatever the scene is for them to be able to determine exactly what happened. And for Scotty, obviously a seriously misunderstood situation that I'm sure that he's probably, it happened so fast, he didn't even have time to be able to process even what happened. - Yeah, so let me just, 'cause you touched on a few things here, and I think it's very important to establish a clear timeline using the facts that we have. So especially people who aren't caught up on this can understand. So here's a series of events as we understand them that occurred this morning. So at 5.09 a.m., there is that fatal accident that occurs outside of Valhalla. At 5.39 a.m., this text you've forwarded to me has sent to all the players participating in the PGA Championship. Due to a serious accident, the only access to gate one for players and caddies is from the west going eastbound on Shelbyville Road. Please plan to use this route to arrive of a holo golf club and allow extra time due to congested traffic. So that's 5.39 a.m. It's 6.01 Scotty Scheffler, as you noted, is pulling in when this incident occurs. And I'll now read to you the police report as it's written. Detective Gillis was directing traffic into gate one at the Valhalla Golf Course due to the road being closed in both directions from an earlier fatal collision. Listed subject was driving eastbound to gain access to the course. Subject pulled into the westbound lanes where outbound traffic was flowing and to avoid backed up traffic. Detective Gillis was in the middle of the westbound lanes in full LMPD uniform and a high visibility yellow reflective rain jacket. Detective Gillis stopped subject and attempted to give instructions. Subject refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground. Detective Gillis suffered pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee. He was transported to the hospital for further medical treatment by emergency medical personnel. Detective Gillis is uniform pants valued at approximately $80 were damaged beyond repair. That's the police report. At 7.28 AM, Scotty is booked. At 8.40 and the charges he's booked on are second degree assault of a police officer, third degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic. Those are the charges. He takes a mug shot that's made his round on the internet. On the internet, at 8.40 AM, Scotty Scheffler is released and accompanied by a Valhalla club president, Jimmy Kurzdorf, or Valhalla owner, I should say, Jimmy Kurzdorf, or back to Valhalla Golf Club. Their statements released by a defense attorney here in Louisville, he's retained. Steve Romines, to the nature of the case. At 9.12, Scotty arrives at Valhalla and he issues the following statement. This morning, I was proceeding as directed by police officers. It was a very chaotic situation, understandably so considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier and there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions. I'm hopeful to put this to the side and focus on golf today. Of course, all of us involved in the tournament express our deepest sympathies to the family of the man who passed away in the earlier accident this morning. It truly puts everything in perspective. And shortly after that 9.12, a lot of arrival, he's on the range warming up for his 10.08 tee time. So that is the timeline as we know it in full. And I just wonder if you have any reflections on the way things went and maybe the way things could have gone differently, so we did not arrive where we are right now. Well, I think a couple things, you know, condolences to the gentleman that passed away this morning and past that, I think you start to look at, you know, this has been a long time in the works for Valhalla Golf Club to get this PGA championship. Doing a ton of work on the clubhouse, the golf course. You know, this tournament just didn't arrive here overnight. It's been years and years of preparation for four days. And I imagine from the ownership of Valhalla to the membership, all the members that haven't been able to play this golf course, looking forward to a magical week. You know, I start there and then I look at the city of Louisville and its fans here that were excited about supporting an incredible event, which may still turn out to be an incredible event. But right now as we sit here, you imagine that there's just gonna be some frustration from a lot of locals on how it was handled with where things stand right now. We don't know how Scotty necessarily handled the situation with the car, it made it sound like he's rolled the window down. The policeman grabbed his arm and he kept driving. I'm sure there's gonna be video of this to come out at some point to be able to either support the police report or completely contradict it. It's not for us to say. I think that Scotty felt like he was doing what maybe other players were already doing. The yellow security jacket and the yellow police jacket can be confusing as a lot of times that security guards who are not policemen, who do not have the authority to put you in handcuffs, are the people that are waving us in and out of traffic when we're getting into a golf course. So it's not an unusual circumstance. I think Scotty maybe wasn't quite aware of the situation and maybe would have proceeded in a different way, but nothing will ever replace the image of waking up for me this morning and seeing a mugshot of Scotty Scheff or who is a guy in which we would, we think the world of this guy, he's a role model, not only for just kids around the world, but just for even adults. He's a very understanding citizen. So when you see the police report and a felony charge and the seriousness of what is being potentially charged, whether this will be held up, whether it'll be dropped, we don't know, but it's been a crazy day. - With the Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card, you can earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases you want and purchases you need. That means you earn on what you want, like trying out that new workout class and 2% cash rewards on what you need, like a foam roller for your sore muscles. That's the beauty of the Active Cash Credit Card. 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Because I think that it is one thing for Scotty Sheffler to likely misunderstand the direction that was given. If the text was sent at 5.39, he arrived at 6 a.m., I'm not sure that he even looked at his phone or was aware of it before he arrived. So he's maybe still operating under a different assumption. So he gets there and I'm sure he probably did something wrong or something in the office or want him to do differently, but instead of trying to clear up the confusion with the number one player of the world and arguably the biggest draw for the second major of the year, not only does he get pulled out of his car, not only does he get put in handcuffs, not only do the officers when being explained by Jeff on site who they are arresting, that they say he's getting arrested. There's nothing you can do to change about that. Not only does he get taken to the police station and put in a jumpsuit and take a mugshot and be given felony charges, I mean, for all those things to happen, it's a little bit incredible to me that you can allow all those things to happen in a way that, again, the world we live in, these things are gonna be talked about. And so I just, I feel heavily for the people involved who are trying to put together a really cool event and one for the fans we're all excited about. And this is what we end up talking about on day two of the tournament because it just, I struggled to understand how we arrived at this place. It was escalated, that's for sure. I'm not sure exactly other than what we know for did Scotty make it worse and what it could have been? I don't know, but as what I've seen from the golf course when I was well, just turned the page and what we've seen from Scotty on the course. - Cool, can I ask you about prep? Like, can I just tee you up on this about prep a little bit because I think this is interesting from a pro's perspective of, you know, you're talking about all the things on the front and where you're arriving in a car. You know, just going through your whole process, a lot of people don't have insight into this process. And we were talking this morning with, you know, a guy who trains, you know, multiple tour pros and athletes that go through these routines. And his insight was, you know, he was probably arriving early to get a lift in, but you know, obviously that goes out the window with everything that happens. And so, you know, the things that are probably on his checklist, his bare bones checklist are maybe a mobility routine and then getting to the range. He talked a little bit about what that slide coming in on short time, how he preps for all that. And then, you know, what you've seen thus far on the course today. - Yeah, you know, I think he's running more off of probably some wild adrenaline, I'd imagine. That's not the good type of adrenaline. Just the, you know, I don't think he cares about a warm up this morning. He had plenty of time to get his body loose, hitting balls, hitting bunker shots. It's not like he was pulling up to the tee box right before. I believe he had close to 30, 45 minutes to get ready, which is plenty of time. Even though it was a damp, rainy morning, a little cooler, but I don't think that's part of what I think would, and it screw up Scotty's chef for it all because watching him out there today, his body looks fine, he's hitting good shots. He's only had really one missed putt that he probably could have made on 11. You know, he started the day hitting a wedge shot, almost making it again after yesterday, holding a shot on the first hole. So, birding the first and made a big putt at 12 after a bounce back on Bogey at the 11th. I mean, he's one under par through five holes right now. Let's see where he finishes up today, but still just a remarkable story, you know, especially with where Scotty's chef is coming into this week, just had a child last week, really could win the grand slam. This is a player that's won the Masters already this year. He's been on a tear, won the players. This could have happened to any single one of the 154 players this week, and it just happened to happen to the best player in the world. So, it's unlike anything we've ever seen in any sport. I can't think of any NBA, NFL player, you name the sport where they're driving to the golf course and get arrested, trying to get to their place to do their job. So, I think it falls short a little bit from a logistics standpoint. Obviously, that could have been handled much, much better from a communication standpoint to the players and exactly how they should get into the golf course, because if moving back tee times was going to be a thing, that decision probably could have been made much, much earlier instead of having the situation develop and realizing, okay, we need to push back tee times. That to me was the biggest failure was, you know, when you have an incident right outside of the clubhouse, you probably need to let the players have enough time to be able to get to the golf course. And I think even the hazards that were still out there, I mean, we saw Cameron Young and Will's Alotaurs, they decided to get out of their cars or their shuttle that they were in and walk to the golf course, which is a, I think, a fairly big hazard in itself as we'd already had somebody get hit and killed earlier in the day. So just from a logistical operation standpoint, right when this thing happened at five in the morning, the techs had sent out, hey, go eastbound, come in from this way only. I think they probably could have given themselves some more time, let's push back tee times an hour to give everybody plenty of time, knowing that there was a crime, an investigation scene that needed all of its attention and instead what happened, players felt maybe like they were rushed to get to the golf course to get their routines started and maybe weren't quite aware of the situation. So I think that's where this is all falling short to where we led into a situation where, hey, this isn't unusual across the country over the last decade, things like this happened, but not to the number one golf in the world. - Yeah, I think it is, I mean, the note about Cam Young and Will's Al Torres is a good one. It's like we have a situation we're trying to get under control and we're creating more situations, that's not ideal. I think there's a piece of this, I think we have to be careful how we discuss this, but this is obviously a very somber event, what happened this morning. But there is the side of this where immediately people start creating memes and making jokes on social media and there's a reaction to this because there's an absurdity of this that generates discussion. And we were talking here this morning about, this is gonna be great for Scotty and the PIP. I mean, a lot of talk around Scotty this morning. And I wonder if part of this, and definitely not trying to be insensitive to the situation of the events here, but here you have a guy who, as we talked about, amazing human being, a guy with a strong faith, a guy who just became a dad for the first time, who by all accounts is one of the nicest, best people on tour. And to even, we've talked about this extensively, that is maybe a little too vanilla for a lot of people as the number one player in the world. And then this thing happens. It's like, and he's being charged with a felony. Are we gonna start calling Scotty the felon? I don't, I wonder if coming out of this, this whole sort of thing, if in a weird way, this sort of adds to the interest level around Scotty, because you gotta imagine, I mean, I am very intrigued to see the TV ratings today and for the rest of the week, 'cause this is every single network, we flip on sports, and we flip on ESPN this morning, it's wall to wall coverage of what's happening with Scotty's shuffle, or watching every single shot on the range, it is kind of unprecedented from a golf perspective, and I wonder what your thoughts are about just all the other tragedy that piece of Vietnam was standing in a way is this sort of good for interest and talk about golf, and maybe even Scotty's brand. - 100%, I mean, Twitter this morning was an absolute on point, it was chaos. But it was, it was, I think I woke up frustrated, maybe a little mad disappointed how it was all handled, and it wore off pretty quickly because Twitter was absolutely electric. And I think once Scotty decided that he was playing, it was like, okay, cue up the hype video, cue up the edits, cue the music up, I was all in on Scotty shooting 18 today at the golf course and birding in the first hole, so, yeah, it's crazy. And then even like beginning the week, start the week with Rory, filing for a divorce, it's just been a wild week to start it in just crazy. - Absolutely crazy. - I mean, it's, we were talking about this too, just reflecting on what a strange, strange year it's been where we've kind of, at the beginning of this podcast, we were having on antitrust lawyers to discuss the proposed merger between the PIF and the PGA Tour, and now we're reading police reports on this podcast. Like, we just love to talk about golf. But I mean, yeah, the whole spectacle, and there were, as soon as reports broke, Scotty's number moved to eight to one to win the tournament. And then as soon as reports broke, he was being escorted back by Jimmy Kerstorfer, they slide down to five to one. And just the way this is impacting markets around the tournament, it's just wild. And for all those reasons, we had to sit here and record an emergency pod. So any other big reflections before we, in this whole situation before we wrap, and kind of get ready to watch the rest of the action on Friday from Valhalla. - I mean, I'm all in on the Scotty Slam now. I mean, this is-- (laughing) - I am a fuel. - I would like to get a one-time, take my one-and-done pick back from John Rahm, and be able to use my Bingo square on the get-out-of-jail-free card, if you will, on Scotty's Sheffler. (laughing) - Let's hope it's free when this is all said and done. It sounds like Steve Rowind's is a good attorney, so it just might be the case. - That's right. - That's all from us on this little emergency reacts. - Say it right. - We'll see you tonight. We'll obviously come out to Club Magenta on the 10th fee where Scotty put the peg in the ground for his first tee shot today and hang out with Smiley all week long from 2 to 3 p.m. today in the Magenta hour, with conversation with Colton O so that one will be interesting, recapping this entire thing. So do that, and we appreciate you watching, listening, we'll be back, recapping all the action from Friday at Valhalla tonight. Talk to you then. - You know, I listened to this talk, it was really cool. - All of our world brands and subscribers, but make sure you like it from scratch. - It's cool, see what you guys are doing. I know golf fans appreciate it, but we do too, so please keep it up. - For all the good people of YouTube, like and subscribe. - You guys have some good tech, so I'm happy to come on and shoot the-- - With the $5 meal deal at McDonald's, you pick a McDouble or a McChicken, then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four-piece McNuggets. 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