Scottie Scheffler was two strokes off the lead when he finished his second round at the PGA Championship on Friday afternoon. But the No. 1 golfer in the world nearly didn’t make it to Valhalla Golf Club earlier in the morning, in what would have been a major blow to the second major championship, fans paying $250 for general admission tickets in Louisville, and the tournament’s broadcast partners at ESPN and CBS.

Tragedy and Confusion

It’s been a chaotic, traumatic day in Kentucky, and there are still plenty of questions and unresolved matters. But here’s what happened:

• Early Friday morning, a worker for a PGA Championship vendor was struck and killed by a shuttle bus outside Valhalla Golf Club.
• As a result, the second round was delayed about an hour and a half, and both fans and players dealt with huge traffic delays.
• While Scheffler was driving to the course, he was stopped and arrested after driving past a police officer (more details on that here).
• Despite the incident and being charged on four accounts, including second-degree assault of a police officer, which is a felony, Scheffler was released from custody and teed off on time at 10:08 a.m. ET.

Legal Battle Ensuing?

While statements from Scheffler and his attorney (who he hired Friday in Louisville) say that everything was a misunderstanding, the Louisville Metro Police Department has so far taken the opposite approach. Scheffler was also charged with third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic. The official police report painted Scheffler in an extremely negative light, and even included a line about the arresting officer’s pants: They were valued at $80 and “damaged beyond repair.”

It’s unclear what transpired after Scheffler was detained, but New York–based criminal defense lawyer Roger V. Archibald tells Front Office Sports the golfer’s release “was laser fast” for someone who was charged with a felony. “Maybe they get out early in the afternoon, maybe they get out before lunchtime, but certainly not in an hour.”

Scheffler is scheduled to be arraigned in Louisville on Tuesday morning. While he said he couldn’t comment on the specifics of his case after his round, Scheffler admitted he was rattled and his head was still spinning. “I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell—that was a first,” he said. 

Unfolding Live on TV

ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington, who is covering the PGA Championship on-site, broke the news of Scheffler’s arrest this morning. And the network dropped everything to cover the developing story. Darlington retold his account of the arrest multiple times on ESPN and ESPN+ before and even as second-round play began.

It will be interesting to see what ESPN’s viewership numbers for Friday’s coverage of the PGA Championship end up being. Scheffler dominated headlines on both sports-focused and non-sports websites, as well as social media, for the majority of the day—all before other golf heavyweights like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and first-round leader Xander Schauffele teed off in the afternoon. CBS has third- and final-round coverage over the weekend, as Scheffler looks to stay atop the leaderboard while his situation off the course plays out, too.

Scheffler was escorted from jail back to the course by one of the co-owners of Valhalla Golf Club. Once on the links, he had plenty of support from the crowd Friday. Many spectators were seen wearing T-shirts that read “Free Scottie” or had a picture of his mugshot—not to mention the fans walking around in orange jumpsuits to mark the occasion. Those shirts were being sold in parking lots near the PGA Championship for as little as $10.

Major League Baseball’s richest owner and, again, the supporter of the league’s largest payroll is once more facing questions about the possibility of blowing up a disappointing roster—and this time, the situation was largely of his own making. 

Mets owner Steve Cohen, worth an estimated $19.8 billion, is under renewed fan scrutiny after he suggested this week in a tweet response to a fan, “All in the future, not much we can do until trade deadline.” Cohen, who has since deleted that tweet, was responding to a fan question, leading to new speculation that the Mets would again be sellers at that July 30 deadline.

Cohen then sought to walk back his post on X in a subsequent comment made to the team’s regional sports network, SportsNet New York. 

“It’s way too early to speculate on anything,” Cohen said to SNY. “I know the fan base is frustrated, but it’s still early. We’re still very capable of making the playoffs. I fully expect to make the playoffs.”

The Mets have the league’s highest payroll for the second straight season, now standing at about $308 million. But the team is once again failing to match expectations, holding a 20–23 record after Thursday’s extra-innings win over the Phillies. The early-season struggles recall those from last year that ultimately led Cohen to dismantle much of what was the largest single-season outlay on players in MLB history at $344 million.

A Different Tune Across Town

The situation with the crosstown Yankees, meanwhile, is far more hopeful. The team entered Friday with a 30–15 record, best in the American League, aided in part by the high-profile offseason addition of star outfielder Juan Soto. 

Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner has been so encouraged by the early impact of Soto that he said he is open to altering the normal policy of both the team and that of Soto’s agent, Scott Boras, and negotiate a new, long-term contract during the season. Soto will be a free agent after the World Series, and he is likely to command a contract that will be the second highest in MLB history, trailing only Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers. Soto already turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer from the Nationals in 2022.

“We all know he’s [a] generational [talent], right? He’s the complete package,” Steinbrenner said of Soto on a YES Network podcast. “I had no doubts he would perform here under pressure, zero doubts with that. I was curious to see how he’d interact with the fans, how he would interact with the media, and, of course, how he would interact with the rest of the players. And it’s just been great, great, and great on those three things.”