Will Zalatoris said players
discussed asking for 2nd round to be postponed
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[May 18, 2024]
Will Zalatoris told reporters that a group of players nearly
asked for the second round of the PGA Championship to be postponed
after the harrowing early morning hours Friday.
According to The Athletic, Zalatoris said the conversation among the
players lasted around 30 minutes after the death of a pedestrian and
the arrest of No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler on a felony charge of
assault on a police officer.
"Some of the guys were talking about, wondering if we should even
play today," Zalatoris said, according to the report. "At one point
there were a group of guys in the locker room talking about going to
the PGA of America about it, but I think it was dead in the water in
the locker room. It was bizarre. We just didn't know ... when
Scottie was going to get out, any of the details."
The arrest came as Scheffler tried to enter Valhalla Golf Club as he
drove in a player-marked courtesy car. The 27-year-old was
attempting to drive around the site of a fatal accident that
occurred, per Louisville Metro Police, at 5:09 a.m. ET. In that
incident, a shuttle bus struck and killed an adult male pedestrian
as he was crossing the road near the front gate of Valhalla. The man
was a vendor working at the tournament.
Scheffler was arrested and charged with four offenses: second-degree
assault on a police officer, a felony, as well as third-degree
criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from
officers directing traffic.
Scheffler was released from custody after being booked at the
Louisville Metro Department of Corrections, his mug shot taken while
wearing an orange jail-issued jumpsuit. He was released in time to
make his tee time, which was pushed back by 80 minutes for all
players because of the traffic jam that resulted from the accident.
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Zalatoris, who is a friend of Scheffler, said he
thought the round should have at least been delayed a few hours to
address the situation.
"The fatality happened, hey it was maybe, ‘Let's not try to rush
this thing in.' It happened right in front of the gates," Zalatoris
said. "‘Let's push this back three to four hours or something and we
can make it up on the weekend.' When it happened with Scottie, we
were just all shell-shocked and didn't know what to do or think or
say. In 20/20 hindsight, maybe a four- or five-hour delay just to
let the (police) do their business and let them handle everything
that happened because a life was lost and let us come in as normal
as possible, and unfortunately world No. 1 got arrested. This is the
world of golf to a T right now. There's no such thing as normality."
Scheffler, whose arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9
a.m. ET, shot a 5-under 66 on Friday and is 9-under par after the
first two days of competition.
--Field Level Media
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