2024 PGA Tour | Page 12 | Syracusefan.com

2024 PGA Tour

It’s hard not to be very annoyed with the officer’s exaggeration of his injuries and what transpired to justify Scheffler’s arrest. Officers pulling that kind of crap is what erodes trust.
How do you know the officer exaggerated his injuries? Honestly curious.
 
It will show great mental toughness for him to block this and win- that I would respect.

That being said, Scottie was just as much to blame for this blowing up, and I'm not sure why I should root for him anymore because of this. Police power trip and are not accountable all the time, but a police moved along side for 20 yards (is it moved, carried, or "dragged... cops could be exaggerating that). I'd love to give all blame to the cops here, but I just can't bring my self

You have significantly more police presence than normal because of the accident with cops that aren't involved with the tournament now on the scene. Obviously Scottie did not know why the multiples of additional police were there, but he should have been more on alert that something was different. It seems some others were able to mentally navigate the difference in that period unlike Scottie.

Scottie's instincts was to just ignore the guy trying to direct him / stop him, and then carried him along for about 20 yards. Interesting how Darlington's story started at maybe 10 yards, and is now up to 20 yards.

Does this make Scottie guilty of a felony... no. It was a mistake, perhaps an absent minded one, and not ego driven. I assume they will settle on one misdemeanor charge.
I dunno, people make mistakes. Yes, he should have stopped when the cop told him to, but it was probably in his mind that if he doesn't make his tee time he gets DQ'd. Easy solution: Monahan and the mayor get together; Scottie says "I made a mistake, and I apologize to the police, etc, etc, etc." Makes a symbolic gesture to the local PAL, or something. This gives the police an outlet, and they call it a misunderstanding, and drop it. Then only the motor mouths like SA Smith and Skip Bayliss will still be nattering about it. And I don't listen to either of 'em anyway.
 
I dunno, people make mistakes. Yes, he should have stopped when the cop told him to, but it was probably in his mind that if he doesn't make his tee time he gets DQ'd. Easy solution: Monahan and the mayor get together; Scottie says "I made a mistake, and I apologize to the police, etc, etc, etc." Makes a symbolic gesture to the local PAL, or something. This gives the police an outlet, and they call it a misunderstanding, and drop it. Then only the motor mouths like SA Smith and Skip Bayliss will still be nattering about it. And I don't listen to either of 'em anyway.
It was probably in his mind he would miss his tee time? Now there is a good reason to to just blow off the cops. Geeez!
 
some of the confusion it seems was being told something by the security and maybe more by copys but at 6am on a dark day in the rain not really understanding who was who.,

Still he had 2-3 hrs before teeing off . so maybe not rushing would have made some sense.
 
some of the confusion it seems was being told something by the security and maybe more by copys but at 6am on a dark day in the rain not really understanding who was who.,

Still he had 2-3 hrs before teeing off . so maybe not rushing would have made some sense.
Yeah, he wasn’t rushing. He had plenty of time before his tee time.

I don’t think he was just flying by this officer without regard either. Idk if people are picturing an officer jumping and waiving his arms shouting at Scheffler to stop and he said screw you, but that’s unlikely to be what happened. Like you said, visibility was reduced and they had two crews of cops working it, one for the tournament and one for the crash, adding to the confusion. It’s sounding more and more like Scheffler was right near the entrance when this all went down. It’s less clear, but it also sounds like he had already shown his credentials (to somebody) and thought he had the go-ahead.

Regardless, I still can’t fathom what would possess the officer to grab on to a moving car. Like, was he trying to open the door immediately, while it was moving? That can’t be how they teach that. And why was he so adamant that the car HAD to stop right then and there? Scheffler wasn’t at risk of driving into the crash scene based on the pictures available. It just seems like the officer got so unnecessarily aggressive so quickly for something that could have been diffused with more measured, more professional approach/reaction.

I was in the car with my father-in-law when Rochester police were trying (poorly) to set up a DUI checkpoint at an intersection. It was dark and rainy and they hadn’t blocked off traffic well. You could see a two cruisers but it wasn’t clear that they wanted you to stop, so my FIL took his left turn like normal. The officers didn’t lunge and grab at the car so they could make an arrest and an assault claim. One just got in his car and stopped us a little ways down the road. No theatrics. No overreaction.
 
Last edited:
It was probably in his mind he would miss his tee time? Now there is a good reason to to just blow off the cops. Geeez!
Okay, I said it was probably in his mind. That doesn't mean it was the only thing. And I didn't say it was "a good reason to just blow off the cops." You said that. I did say he should have stopped. Geeez! My point is that in order to deal with a situation you have to understand where each side is coming from. :)
 
Last edited:
Darlington’s original story said 10-20 yards, to my recollection. Either way, anybody who’s been on a football field can tell you that’s not far by any stretch.

I take issue with the idea that the car dragged the officer, too. The officer knew he couldn’t stop a car with his hand. I’d bet none of his training has told him to grab a moving vehicle, too. So, the officer decides to grab a vehicle and decides to hold on to a vehicle and that equates to assault by the driver? That is incredibly sketchy. It’s the equivalent of charging somebody with resisting arrest if they instinctively jerk their arm away when a guy with unknown intentions and a gun (a police officer) tries to grab them. Technically, the law allows for that charge, but the law allows for charges for just about anything.

Regarding the first someone hanging on for 20 yards on asphalt could certainly cause some minor injuries. So I'm not sure if there is exaggeration there or not.

Certainly agree on your second point though. It was poor judgement by the cop to hang on which seemed unnecessary and was the reason for his injury. And that action itself (by the cop) itself led to the felony charge -- not the same as entrapment obviously, but certain similar arguments.
 
Last edited:
I dunno, people make mistakes. Yes, he should have stopped when the cop told him to, but it was probably in his mind that if he doesn't make his tee time he gets DQ'd. Easy solution: Monahan and the mayor get together; Scottie says "I made a mistake, and I apologize to the police, etc, etc, etc." Makes a symbolic gesture to the local PAL, or something. This gives the police an outlet, and they call it a misunderstanding, and drop it. Then only the motor mouths like SA Smith and Skip Bayliss will still be nattering about it. And I don't listen to either of 'em anyway.

As an aside I'm not cheering against the guy. I'm just not cheering for him any more than normal. He made a mistake, its not a big one. Perhaps I am cheering more for the storyline though .. I am interested follower - it certainly adds some interest.

There is any easy PR way out of this - Have Scottie agree to a two day golf school for underprivileged kids as community service. Of course that comes down to how arrogant the police force wants to be.

I would say the worst thing to do is get Jay Monahan involved. Plus he's not part of the PGA of America which is the host of the tournament, not the PGA tour. He's negative value at this point from a PR perspective He screwed up re. LIV, in big part because of lazy e-mails that hanged the PGA legally from a monopoly viewpoint. Then he continues to **** over the Canadian Open.
 
Okay, I said it was probably in his mind. That doesn't mean it was the only thing. And I didn't say it was "a good reason to just blow off the cops." You said that. I did say he should have stopped. Geeez! :)

I was thinking of this while biking. One detail I am not sure about, is did he "roll-through" show his credentials, expecting no issues, and the cop just latched on without him even realizing it initially... or did he come to a full stop and then just ignore and move on. If it's the former I am fine with that - its absent minded. The latter is a bit more arrogant I suppose.

A guy like Scheffler has probably went through entrance checkpoints on the PGA about a 1,000 times at this point. The credential process has become so automatic its probably always a "roll-through" rather than a full stop for him. And that's probably just like us taking a rolling stop at a non busy corner. If he rolled through, and the cop stupidly latched on (as Brooky has pointed out a few times) it is very much an oversight that was handled poorly by the cop.
 
Last edited:
Amazing round by Scottie given the circumstances.

Scottie has been well spoken at the presser. Certainly leans that it was just a mistake due to oversight, rather than a situation where some ego/arrogance contributed to the problem.
 
Amazing round by Scottie given the circumstances.

Scottie has been well spoken at the presser. Certainly leans that it was just a mistake due to oversight, rather than a situation where some ego/arrogance contributed to the problem.
Yeah, I listened to about 15 minutes of it. He was quite straightforward and didn't invite anyone to throw gas on it by overreacting to questions. And his first comment was to acknowledge the family of the man who was killed, which was appropriate. I'm sure they don't appreciate all the needless extra attention.
 
Honestly stuff happens. Probably a giant misunderstanding, glad nobody else got hurt. Terrible about the pedestrian.
 
Michael Block was a nice story last year. But he managed to take away quite a bit of his likability within 3 months of that. I assume he won't be getting any more exemptions for tour events at this point,
 
I just saw two officers smiling and shaking hands with Sheffler as he was heading to the club house. I'll let everyone connect the dots their own way. :)
 
I just saw two officers smiling and shaking hands with Sheffler as he was heading to the club house. I'll let everyone connect the dots their own way. :)
Glad to hear it. When you spend your first 26 years being a great person these are the perfect scenarios where you get the benefit of the doubt. We can move on.
 
This major doesn't feel like a major. They're all just throwing darts now.

You have to hit a really bad shot to miss the fairway.

And that 8th simply is not a championship level hole in these conditions.
 
Yeah I agree. My instinct is that Scheffler was playing the "I don't have to wait and play by the rules like everyone else because I'm an elite golfer" card, and the cops were probably tired/flustered from the accident where someone died and had razor-thin patience and were likely to be heavy-handed.

Worst case scenario, Scheffler will pay a fine that is like pocket change for him, maybe do a little community service in the form of a pro-am golf tourney, and nobody will remember this happened a week from now.
By all accounts he is the last guy to behave that way. Not saying he couldn’t possibly , but it’s not his typical character. More likely he panicked like a kid late for a final
 
By all accounts he is the last guy to behave that way. Not saying he couldn’t possibly , but it’s not his typical character. More likely he panicked like a kid late for a final
This is a trillion percent what happened.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
170,352
Messages
4,886,418
Members
5,995
Latest member
meierscreek

Online statistics

Members online
323
Guests online
1,748
Total visitors
2,071


...
Top Bottom