LOUISVILLE — If golf’s four majors each represented a branch on a big family tree, then the PGA Championship would definitely be that black sheep uncle that is longing to be loved.
He’s a little insecure. He tries too hard to insert himself into every conversation. He dresses funny, and parties a bit too hard on occasion. He’s never going to feel as prestigious or as respected as his siblings. That stings a little.
He’s also — as long as we’re being honest — typically a lot of fun.
The wacky uncle can be a tremendously entertaining hang, and the 2024 PGA Championship was a nice reminder of that fact. Sure, there might be an arrest, or a divorce, that needs to be explained once it’s all over. You might wake up sunburned and missing the novelty “HALLA” hat that you purchased on a dare. But you’re going to remember the experience. You’re going to tell stories about that uncle for the next decade.
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It's the reason why it was the tournament where Phil Mickelson gave us one of golf’s greatest moments, winning at Kiawah at age 50. And why Michael Block resonated with so many last year at Oak Hill. The last time they played a PGA Championship in this city, Rory McIlroy won in the dark by hitting into the group ahead of him. Colin Morikawa won a PGA at Harding Park that almost no one saw live. John Daly won a PGA after driving through the night to get to his tee time. Weird stuff tends to happen in this major championship.
The record book will show that Xander Schauffele won his first major at Valhalla Golf Club, and at age 30, it represented a satisfying rebuttal to the criticism that he was fated to always come up small in big moments. He out-dueled Bryson DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland down the stretch, making a birdie on 18 that wiggled into the cup when it easily could have lipped out. He finished one stroke ahead of DeChambeau, who watched from the driving range as his dream of a potential playoff was snuffed out when the putt tumbled in. It was a memorable day, and Schauffele showed he was a deserving winner.
You can also make a decent argument that his victory was about the third (or fourth) most interesting thing that happened this week.
It’s going to be hard to explain to future generations of golf fans who didn’t live through it that Scottie Scheffler — by far the best player in the world in 2024, and also one of the most inoffensive athletes in sports — really did get arrested just outside the gates of the club on Friday. He was put in handcuffs by a Louisville police officer who insisted that Scheffler failed to heed his instructions as he inched past a crime scene in his courtesy car, and that Scheffler not only dragged the officer, Bryan Gillis, for several feet with his vehicle, the incident also scraped and bruised the officer’s wrist as well as damaged his police uniform pants beyond repair.
(The pants were valued at $80, according to notes in the police report.)
Scheffler, who won the Masters in April, was as confused as anyone about all that unfolded. One minute he was thinking about his preparation for his second round tee time, the next minute he was sitting in a downtown jail cell charged with a second-degree assault of a police officer, a felony. (He was also charged with third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic.) Even more surreal, Scheffler was processed quickly enough that he was able to return to the course and make his second round tee time.
He promptly shot 66.
“I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell,” Scheffler said, in what may go down in history as one of golf’s greatest quotes. “That was a first for me.”
By Saturday, the shock seemed to have worn off, but so had the adrenaline. Scheffler shot 73, his worst round of the year, and the first time in 42 rounds he’d failed to shoot par or better. He bounced back with a 65 on Sunday, but he was too far back to contend and finished T-8.
“I think I would attribute it mostly to a bad day,” Scheffler said. “Did I feel like myself? Absolutely not. Was my warm-up the way it usually is and the distractions where they normally are? Absolutely not. But I'm not going to sit here and say that's why I went out and played a bad round of golf yesterday.”
Scheffler is scheduled to be arraigned in Jefferson County Court on Tuesday at 9 a.m. A source familiar with the prosecutor’s thinking told No Laying Up that, as of now, the office plans to drop the charges against Scheffler. Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg revealed on Saturday that officer Gillis did not have his body camera turned on during the incident. The 27-year-old Texan was serenaded throughout the week by fans chanting “Free Scottie” as he strolled the fairways.
“I think it finally hit me [on Saturday] what really happened,” Scheffler said. “But like I said, I did my best to leave that behind me and come out here and compete and do what I love, and the support I got from the fans was amazing. I think they were cheering extra loud for me this week, and I got a lot of support from the players and caddies as well. A lot of people showing their support, a lot of players telling me how much they love me and stuff like that, and like I said, I'm really grateful to have the community that we have out here.”
Scheffler’s arrest also overshadowed another surreal development that made ripples throughout the golf world: Rory McIlroy’s decision on Monday to file for divorce from his wife Erica, with whom he shares a 3-year-old daughter. McIlroy made it clear he wasn’t going to answer any questions about his private life, preferring to let his game speak for itself. He finished tied for 12th, but never truly contended after a disappointing 71 on Friday.
“I'm feeling good about my game,” McIlroy said. “I feel like things are sort of clicking more.”
With little else to share, he had even less interest in sticking around to watch the finish. After signing his scorecard, McIlroy was in a courtesy car within minutes, putting Valhalla — and the week — in his rearview mirror.
Those who did stick around saw a hell of a battle. It was like that same black sheep uncle opened a box of bootleg fireworks and started passing them around.
Hovland, who revealed on Saturday that he was so despondent about the state of his game he briefly considered skipping the PGA, looked like his old self for the first time in six months. He shot 68-66-66-66 over four rounds, and was in the heat of contention throughout the back nine, trading birdies with DeChambeau and putting heat on Schauffele two groups behind. Hovland had a birdie putt on 18 that would have gotten him to 20-under, but missed it (and the comebacker) to put a bitter finish on an otherwise sweet performance. That left DeChambeau as the one man who still had a chance to grab onto Schauffele’s shirttail.
It would be spiritually fitting if DeChambeau captured a PGA Championship at some point, because he has reestablished himself, the last two years, as one of golf’s greatest showmen. The 30-year-old is still one of the game’s longest hitters, but this year he says he believes his time spent creating content for YouTube and TikTok has helped him recharge during weeks away from tournament golf, and that has made a huge difference. And the extra time, he feels, is only available to him because of his decision to join LIV Golf.
“As funny as it sounds, as weird as it sounds, having a lot more time back at home to work on my game, to work on content creation with my team that I have back at home allows me to plan and strategize a little bit better than what I have,” DeChambeau said.