Follow live coverage of the primary day of the Open 2024 from Royal Troon today

TROON, Scotland — Every day the questions got here, one after the opposite, and Scottie Scheffler got mad about whether he would go away the Masters while his wife was in labor with their first child. The entire week revolved around this emotional turning point in his life. People and Us Weekly followed it like celebrity gossip. Here at, we even wrote a story about how Scheffler took the lead Saturday night without his wife, Meredith, by his side.

The baby's due date was just one month away.

When Bennett was finally born in May, an ESPN reporter ambiguously announced the news with the hashtag #babyborn. The PGA Tour made the announcement on its website. Scheffler's arrival this week on the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, was like a royal appearance.

Scottie Scheffler's life is suddenly very different. A golfer once considered boring, unexciting and mediocre has someway gone from being a extremely good golfer to being incredibly famous. A player who talked greater than anyone else on Tour in regards to the importance of keeping golf and life separate – in regards to the fundamental must stay grounded despite success and generational wealth – is now the focal point. His injuries and equipment changes make headlines. His family is fodder for the tabloids. A bizarre arrest in Louisville made him a world fascination. His rare weeks when he finishes outside the highest 10 in a significant are treated like disasters.

Scheffler was the world's No. 1 golfer for 96 of the last 121 weeks. But it wasn't until 2024 that he became a superstar.

“It was definitely a little more difficult,” Scheffler said on Tuesday before the Open Championship at Royal Troon. “I think I'm definitely continuing to play better this year – especially in tournaments, I think there's just a lot more happening from day to day. I think I almost had to get more into it, just keep working on my calmness so that it's really restful.”

Scheffler has all the time tried hard to maintain his life small. He has some big sponsorship deals, but they’re minimal in number. He doesn't post his life on social media. He stays away from his phone for a remarkable period of time overall.

And before this 12 months, that was all nice. He was No. 1 on this planet. He was the 2022 Masters champion. But he was the fifth most famous player in his sport. He might be normal. Ignore an occasional interview? No big deal. Not sign a contract for a fan? Oh well, he wants more other people anyway.

But beyond elevating his game to recent levels in 2024, something has noticeably modified. He's won six major tournaments in his last 10 starts, including his second Masters green jacket in April. Conversations around major championships have develop into, “Who's your favorite, you know, other than Scottie?” And while his galleries were solid but unremarkable a 12 months ago, Scheffler now has the largest fan base alongside Tiger Woods, as fans need to see history made.

A certain sense of responsibility is now evident in his public appearances. He seems to have understood that.

“It's a pretty cool feeling to make someone's day by signing an autograph or taking a picture,” Scheffler said. “It's a pretty fun feeling. I try to capitalize more on that side of it than not being able to sign everyone's autograph. People get upset because you can't get a hold of them all day. That's not a nice feeling. I try to capitalize more on making someone's day by signing something or taking a picture.”

It's fascinating how this has slowly developed. It's really easy to forget that his pre-tournament press conference on the Players Championship in March was stuffed with questions on how unfamous he was and why, for some reason, he hadn't made as much of an impact as other big stars.

But something happened within the second round that week. He had won the Arnold Palmer Invitational the week before with a brand new putter, and there was increasing talk of how unstoppable he could be with a greater green shot. Then, that Friday, Scheffler injured his neck barely and needed to be massaged before every tee shot for several holes. Suddenly, a few dozen reporters from the media center rushed to catch him on the back nine. It was urgent. It was covered in a way that golf injuries are almost never covered. Of course, he got here back from behind and won.

His four-shot victory on the Masters was treated as a given. He had Tiger-like odds as a 4-1 favorite, while his week was continually dominated by the arrival of his son. His greatness took on a brand new tone.

But it was that strange, horrific day in Louisville that took Scheffler over the Rubicon. When Scheffler was slammed right into a automobile and arrested before the second round of the PGA Championship, it was a viral, lightning-fast moment. By the time he teed off, hours after his prison sentence, fans had “Free Scottie” T-shirts and were buying prisoner costumes in support. They were for him, and all due to one freak incident.

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 16, 2024

Since that Masters victory, he has won three more times. When he finished forty first on the US Open in June – his first time in 2 1/2 years ending outside the highest 25 at a significant – it was met with concern.

So how does someone who places such importance on living a quiet life outside of golf cope with this recent level of attention and be certain that it doesn't affect his profession?

“I think that's something my wife and I are constantly working on,” Scheffler said. “What does recovery look like when we're home and resting? It doesn't necessarily mean sitting there watching TV. We do a lot of different things to get good rest so that when we get back on the road and playing and doing things, I have the energy to compete. I have the energy – really the social energy to go out and interact with the fans and do stuff like that, sit in the media center.”

This is where Scheffler now lives, for higher or for worse. He is an envoy now. He is a celeb. He has responsibilities and expectations. And sometimes meaning strange interactions with strangers who recognize him.

“There are always some funny ones because I think sometimes people don't know exactly what to say and they can be a little weird sometimes,” he said, laughing.

This week at Royal Troon, Scheffler will attempt to cap a historic 12 months. He has the prospect to develop into the primary golfer since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win seven tournaments up thus far in July, and a second major in 2024 would show just how great he has been.

So, yes, Scheffler has finally accepted that he's famous. He admits that his life is different and that's not going to vary. But don't expect Scheffler to clarify why people love him.

“I can't tell you,” said Scheffler with a smile. “You'd have to ask yourself.”

It was dark. No one else was on the driving range. And for a moment, Scottie Scheffler tricked the Golf Channel audience into considering he was playing hard with 18 holes to go on the Masters. Scheffler had just finished a late third round at Augusta National with a one-shot lead. He was working late into the night to fulfill his media obligations and strolled into the realm between the driving range and the practice constructing.

With his coach, Randy Smith, and his caddie, Ted Scott, behind him, Scheffler pulled out a club and hit a couple of shots under the practice range lights. Smith and Scott stared into the phone, whose camera was trained on Scheffler's swing.

“I don't know what they're doing! He hit a bad shot this week. He hit the ball beautifully! They can't work on anything,” Paul McGinley said in Irish despair as he and Brandel Chamblee watched throughout the Golf Channel's “Live From” broadcast.

That's the purpose: They didn't work on anything. “We were arguing with Brandel and (Paul McGinley) up there in the locker room,” Smith said.

They were passing the time while Scheffler waited for a massage appointment, and Smith and Scott, across the range, saw the red light on the “Live From” set flashing and decided to have some fun. “Hey, Scottie, pretend you're swinging.”

“Ted pulls out his phone,” Smith recalled. “We're looking at the phone. They think we're looking at his swings. We're not. We're looking at a video of Desi Arnaz and Lucy!”

Because right away, Scottie Scheffler doesn't need to do much. He won the Masters in April, his second green jacket. The following week, he won again at Hilton Head, his fourth win in five starts. Two months later, he won the Travelers Championship on Sunday, his sixth win in ten starts. He suddenly became the primary player since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win six tournaments before July.

This season could already be described as the most effective PGA Tour season in a few decade. Scheffler has had the most effective three-year streak of ball-striking since Tiger Woods' heyday. The superlatives are well documented. But now Scheffler's streak can be being considered the most effective season of all time.

Scottie throws the ball close and Tom Kim finds the bunker at the primary playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/HT0CJj5TgE

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) 23 June 2024

In the PGA Tour era, when there was still an actual organized tour (just about starting within the Seventies), all of us know the way much Woods won: He had six different seasons with six or more wins. The record for PGA Tour wins in a season is nine – Woods in 2000 and Vijay Singh in 2004. Only two other players even reached that modern six-win club: Tom Watson in 1980 and Nick Price in 1994.

So what’s the main focus of Scheffler's campaign? And how far can we go?

There is context for lots of the others. Singh's 2004 season is indeed the most effective ever. He won nine times, including the PGA Championship, and had 18 top-10 finishes. But the season had a unique, longer format then, with the Tour Championship in November. Singh's fourth win got here in his twenty second start and his ninth in his thirtieth. Scheffler is unlikely to begin again after the Tour Championship in August and will make 20 starts all season. That doesn't diminish Singh's achievement. It's just different.

Unless Scheffler wins a Grand Slam sooner or later, nobody will catch Tiger Woods' 2000s (3 majors, 9 wins). That's in a category of its own. And to make a comparison, we won't trouble to take a look at the incredible seasons from the pre-modern era, like Byron Nelson's 1945 (18 wins, including a significant!) or Bobby Jones' 1930 (all 4 majors).

If Scheffler doesn't win again, this season will likely go down as one in every of the highest 10 years of all time. In terms of wins, it will be behind Tiger's two or three best years, Jordan Spieth's breakthrough in 2015 (five wins, two majors), in addition to Singh, Nicklaus (1972) and Palmer (1960, 1962).

But when you consider it like that, you overlook two things.

First, golf just isn’t a zero-sum game. It would discount the seven other top-10 finishes in nine starts that weren’t wins, or the one time he has finished worse than seventeenth all 12 months. It would discount the incontrovertible fact that he crashed right into a police automotive and was arrested hours before his tee time Friday on the PGA Championship and still finished eighth. It would also discount overall stroke-for-stroke superiority, with DataGolf rating Scheffler's 2024 form because the second-best season since stroke counting began (the last 30 years). He is gaining 3.1 strokes in comparison with the sector. Only Woods' peak in 2000 was higher.

The significance of Scheffler's victories can be ignored. All six of his victories were major events. He won the Masters, the Players Championship and 4 other major events against all the highest stars of the PGA Tour. These took place on courses comparable to Augusta, Sawgrass, Bay Hill and Muirfield Village, a few of the most effective on the planet.

Yes, it's price noting that Scheffler is playing on a PGA Tour without Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Cameron Smith, who’ve moved to LIV, but those stars have also combined for only one win on LIV this season.

Second, Scheffler’s season just isn’t over yet.

So what's next? Scheffler will likely take the subsequent two weeks off before heading to Scotland for the Open Championship. After his win on Sunday, he hinted he wouldn't play within the Scottish Open the week before, but that's unclear. Then he'll head to Paris for the Olympics on Aug. 1. That wouldn't count as a PGA Tour win, but in a packed Olympic field with just about the entire top players (except DeChambeau), an Olympic gold medal would realistically be somewhere between a significant and a significant PGA Tour event. Then Scheffler has three FedEx Cup playoff events in August to shut out the 12 months.

That leaves Scheffler with potentially just 4 official tournaments and yet another significant probability on the Olympics, and he can be the favourite in each of them.

Maybe it is going to take a second major on the Open Championships at Royal Troon to actually put this season in the all-time category. That's fair. It can be odd for a player who’s up to now ahead of the sector week after week to win only one major. The sad truth is that major championships are so difficult. But if he can get to seven (or more) wins with two majors, there can be serious debate about whether that is the second-best season ever.

If Scheffler doesn't win the Open but has seven or eight wins overall, he’ll move further into the highest five. It can be a matter of private preference

This is all just barroom fun. It's not real. These are all just ways to step back and ensure that we appreciate the incontrovertible fact that we're experiencing something great. Scheffler isn't just having his best season in a decade. He's had 12 wins and 36 top-five finishes over three years. He's special. Enjoy it.

By Eva Rothenberg | CNN

New York – ESPN journalist Jeff Darlington witnessed the arrest of the world's top golfer Scottie Scheffler on Friday morning before the second round of the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, plunging the reporter into the center of one among the strangest sports stories in recent memory.

Darlington not only witnessed the incident, he also tried to intervene. He was just a couple of feet away from Scheffler when the golfer was arrested, and Darlington tried, but failed, to clarify to police that Scheffler was attending the tournament.

“We didn't want to be part of this story, in the end we were at least on the sidelines,” ESPN commentator Dave Fleming said on air after the incident.

ESPN told CNN that the network is just not commenting on this story.

How the story developed

Darlington broke the news of Scheffler's arrest in a series of posts on X and detailed the incident lower than an hour afterward ESPN's SportsCenter. He said the incident occurred around 6 a.m. after a “misunderstanding” by which Scheffler attempted to evade police presence on the scene of an unrelated automotive accident outside the golf club.

“The officer attempted to attach himself to Scheffler’s car, and Scheffler then stopped his vehicle at the entrance to Valhalla,” Darlington wrote on X. “The officer then began yelling at Scheffler to get out of the car. As Scheffler exited the vehicle, the officer pushed Scheffler against the car and immediately handcuffed him.”

“At that time (Scheffler) said – when he saw me behind him – 'Can you help?' “The police officers told me to take a step back,” Darlington told the audience on television shortly afterwards.

In one Video posted on X An hour later, Darlington follows the law enforcement officials who take Scheffler away. Several law enforcement officials called on him to resign.

“Right now he’s going to prison. He's going to jail and there's nothing you possibly can do about it,” an officer said to Darlington, referring to Scheffler. Darlington makes it clear that he’s a member of the media and the police reiterate that he must resign.

“The officers surrounding the patrol car that Scottie Scheffler was in had no idea he was even Scottie Scheffler,” Darlington clarified on air. “I say this because a police officer came up to me with his notepad and said: Can you tell me the name of the person who was just arrested?”

Darlington said the players were told they were allowed to enter the ability and that Scheffler said he continued to drive past the police vehicle because he “didn't know he was a police officer.”

Scheffler is charged with a felony

According to Jefferson County court records, Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault on a police officer, a felony, together with lesser charges of third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and failure to obey signals from officers directing traffic. He has been released from prison, in keeping with the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections.

Attorney Steve Romines, who represents Scheffler, told CNN affiliate WLKY that the golfer had evaded the police on account of a misunderstanding.

“They directed traffic, he held out his media badge and went inside as they were instructed to do,” Romines said. Scheffler's attorney declined to comment on why the golfer was charged with assault, saying he would fight the case in court.

The PGA Championship tournament was delayed an hour and a half and started around 8:30 a.m. Friday morning.

“This morning we were devastated to learn that a worker from one of our suppliers was tragically struck and killed by a shuttle bus in front of Valhalla Golf Club,” PGA said in an announcement. “This is heartbreaking for all of us involved in the PGA Championship. We extend our sincerest condolences to her family and loved ones.”

The CNN Wire
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