PGA Championship: PGA Tour professionals supply perspective on entrance debacle

The PGA Championship entrance debacle induced fairly a storm at Valhalla Golf Membership on Friday.

Somebody sadly misplaced their life after getting struck by a shuttle bus, after which, in a separate incident, police arrested Scottie Scheffler and booked him into jail for 4 totally different expenses.

Fortunately, the World No. 1 made it again for his morning tee time, however it was nonetheless a disastrous state of affairs for all concerned. The 2-time Masters winner then returned to the golf course and shot a 5-under 66 regardless of the insane drama that surrounded him.

Scheffler even referred to as the state of affairs a misunderstanding and thanked the cops after his spherical for doing their jobs as a result of that’s who he’s.

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Nonetheless, 155 different gamers wanted to get onto the property. Granted, the PGA of America delayed tee instances, however that didn’t make it any simpler. Half the sphere nonetheless needed to maneuver site visitors and different delays.

That included the likes of Harris English, Will Zalatoris, Austin Eckroat, and Min Woo Lee, all of whom detailed their mornings after their second rounds. A few of their phrases made Scheffler’s arrest much more mind-boggling.

Zalatoris defined to Gabby Herzig, a reporter for The Athletic, that he, Cam Younger, and Eckroat walked the ultimate stretch to make it on time.

Eckroat gave his facet of the story after his spherical.

“I used to be on my manner right here once we obtained the textual content a few delay. I bought to 2 miles away, and it took me about half-hour,” Eckroat stated.

“I ended up getting out of my automobile, strolling a mile and a half, and having my spouse drive the automobile in. It was a bizarre morning. One thing I’ve by no means skilled. It was a tragedy adopted by a bizarre incident. It was fascinating, however fortunately, it didn’t have an effect on my play too badly.”

Harris English needed to change his route fully.

“I had no concept what was happening. They weren’t letting anyone via from that facet I used to be arriving from, so I needed to flip round, go north of the course, took an additional 20 minutes or so, after which I bought into the membership,” English stated.

“It’s darkish, it’s raining, police lights in all places. It was unusual coming into the course this morning. Not the conventional quiet arrival.”

When requested in regards to the incident surrounding Scheffler, English offered some perspective.

“That might have been any certainly one of us,” English added.

“We’re all taking that very same route coming into the membership. Very unlucky. You by no means wish to hear about an individual dropping their life coming to the course. It’s simply horrible.”

Lee supplied extra particulars. He famous that each conditions from this morning affected him earlier than and through his spherical.

Photograph by Andrew Redington/Getty Pictures

Earlier than he teed off, Lee tweeted, “Free Scottie.”

Like most of the gamers, together with Scheffler, Lee used a courtesy Lexus that many gamers used to drive every day to the course.

“I assumed it was just a little overreaction,” Lee stated.

“I went round site visitors, and I used to be following vehicles—a Lexus automobile that was one of many courtesy vehicles. Lots of people had been doing it. He was in a courtesy automobile, too, so I don’t know what induced it. It was simply extra—there was no actual that means to it.”

Given all of this context, Scheffler’s arrest seems to be more and more like an enormous misunderstanding. However we won’t formally know till the authorized course of performs out.

Nonetheless, just one factor from Friday is definite: this championship has confirmed to be a logistical nightmare for all concerned.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. For extra golf protection, be sure you comply with us @_PlayingThrough on all main social platforms. You may also comply with her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.