AS THE JAILBIRD FINISHES EIGHTH, XANDER SCHAUFFELE WINS HIS FIRST MAJOR

The PGA Championship should be remembered for a champion who didn’t try to jump into the westbound lane, in emergency traffic, as Scottie Scheffler probably will be freed from legal problems this week

     The day after is what slaughtered Scottie Scheffler. A double bogey and two bogeys happened in the amount of time he spent in the Louisville police station, which opened the PGA Championship to golfers who didn’t steer their courtesy Range Rovers into the westbound lane when all emergency traffic was stopped eastward. It was disturbing to see so many fans cheering him at Valhalla Golf Club — “Free Scott-eee!” they yelled — without thoughts toward a man who was struck and killed by a shuttle bus.

     Come Sunday evening, they finally could cheer the winner, Xander Schauffele, who finally won his first major title with a record-setting score of 263 in the four prominent events. It took much too long to forget the man with the mug shot.

     He rolled in a six-foot putt on No. 18 and raised his arms, as the crowd roared. The moment was prolific, as he put away Bryson DeChambeau, who was competing with the dubious support of LIV Golf. Earlier, he’d lifted his own arms in possible triumph at 20-under par, knowing Schauffele was playing with the same score on a course where close finishes happen. He hit a tee shot by the edge of a bunker but saved himself, finishing with a birdie as DeChambeau departed a playoff-minded driving range and walked over to congratulate him.

     “This was my opportunity. Just capture it,” Schauffele said. “I was emotional after the putt. I kept saying all week that I needed to stay in my lane. It was hard today. I didn’t want to go into a playoff against Bryson. We would have played 18.”

     At last, we were allowed to wander away from Scheffler, who finished tied for eighth and is scheduled for a court arraignment Tuesday. “I definitely did not feel like myself, for sure,” he said Saturday as his name fell from the leader board. “(Friday) happened and I did my best to recover from it and come out here and compete today. I did a great job yesterday of coming out and competing and riding the adrenaline, but, yeah, this morning was not my normal routine for a round, if that makes sense. But I came out here hoping to have a good round but wasn’t able to get it done, which is pretty frustrating.”

     What he did was allow a tournament to be remembered for on-course excellence, not for his felony arrest when his car dragged an officer to the ground. With a third-round 73, Scheffler would not win his second major of the season and third total. He likely will be freed from all but a wrist slap, if that, which became clear when Mayor Craig Greenberg claimed body-camera footage doesn’t exist from the crime scene. Still, even if Scheffler is known as a good family man with a baby son, it’s time to reward those who reached the course without problems while managing to make nice comments about the jailbird.

     “You felt like it was sort of prank or something when you see a mug shot of Scottie,” Schauffele said. “I know Scottie pretty well. I know he's a solid guy. There was no malintent by him to anyone.”

     Whatever the case, as Scheffler prepares for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst next month, Schauffele prevailed gallantly. It was pleasant to toast a champ instead of wondering what Scheffler was doing in finding a wrong-way path. As he said Friday, “I didn't know what time it was. I didn't know what was going on. When I was sitting in like the holding cell, there was a TV there, and I could see myself on the TV. … I was never angry. I was just in shock, in fear. I definitely never imagined ever going to jail, and I definitely never imagined going to jail the morning before one of my tee times.”

     He was thrilled to have fans behind him, as if they were protesting social conditions in the Kentucky city more than his slip-up. “To be honest with you, it was great having the fans behind me. They cheered for me really loud,” he said. “I felt like they were really glad to have me out competing today.” What about the folks who lifted bourbon drinks and said, “Here’s one for Scottie,” before noon? Have Black people been discriminated against there? The U.S. Justice Department has found evidence, but the tragedy on Shelbyville Road is a departure from police malfeasance. A tournament volunteer, 69-year-old John Mills, was killed by an event-dedicated bus in the Kentucky dusk at 5:07 a.m. If Scheffler was aware of emergency lights, a massive police presence and substantial traffic, he would have stopped and waited like everyone else.

     A man lost his life. Why was his loss underplayed? “I don't think that's getting talked about enough — or at all,” Collin Morikawa said. The tournament carried on, with the leaders keeping their aim. When Scheffler is set loose, we might wonder about ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington. He was wide-open visible at the scene and reported how Scheffler pursued a “median” strip on the road when everyone else was in freeze-halt — and how detective Bryan Gillis “attached” himself to Scheffler’s vehicle. So the reporter might be accused of “lying” when Scheffler carries on without a felony? Who is more important in Bristol’s world: Darlington or Scheffler, the world’s top golfer?

     His third round produced his ugliest stretch in almost two years, with three straight bogeys (or worse) for the first time since August 2022. Imagine rising to the top of the sport for 646 days and 2,470 PGA Tour holes without such a mess. So ends his streak of 41 consecutive rounds at par or better. He had six bogeys or worse. “I was battling as hard as I could all day but every time I’d make a birdie, I’d bogey the next hole,” he said. “Way too many mistakes today. Obviously, I’m pretty frustrated with the result.” And who thought Rory McIlroy’s divorce filing would be the biggest story?

     “Overall, right now, how I'm feeling, I'm fairly tired, definitely a lot more tired than I have been finishing some other tournaments," Scheffler said after Sunday’s round. “But I'm proud of today how we went out there and fought. I got off to kind of a slow start and I was able to kind of get some momentum and post a good round. Overall, proud of how I fought this week. Was fortunate to be out here competing, doing what I love.”

     Too bad he didn’t recognize the bright police lights, the massive traffic and the common sense of it all.

     For Schauffele, whose name will be more easily pronounceable, he no longer can be called the best player without a major trophy. He spoke of “blood in the water” and saw Viktor Hovland, who thought of withdrawing early in the week. “I wasn’t playing good,” he said. “Things didn’t feel very good and when they don’t feel good, it’s like, what’s the point of playing?” He stuck around and gave it a run with DeChambeau, who chipped in for an eagle Saturday at No. 18. “I haven’t felt like that in a long time. The only other time I felt like it was when I shot 58 at Greenbrier last year,” he said. “That was pretty exciting there. I was pretty pumped. I’ve got a good chance.’’

     In truth, this was Schauffele’s chance to close on the big day. Funny thing was, guess who shot 65 on Sunday? Scottie Scheffler. Without the arrest, might he have won again?

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.