24 May 2024 , 11:15
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The fallout from Scottie Scheffler's arrest continues to take its toll as the world number one made an uncharacteristically poor start to the Charles Schwab Challenge on Thursday.
Scheffler carded an opening round of 72 at Colonial, sitting tied for 79th at two-over-par, with a battle on his hands to make the cut. It was the second time in his past three rounds that the runaway FedEx Cup leader has finished over par, ending a streak of 41 consecutive rounds of par or better dating back to August 2023.
Scheffler was making his return to the PGA Tour after his bid to win the PGA Championship last week was derailed by him being handcuffed and taken to a downtown Louisville police station just hours before his second round at Valhalla.
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He was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, criminal mischief in the third degree, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic after allegedly ignoring orders from officers as he attempted to drive around a roadblock caused by a fatal accident outside the course in Kentucky.
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Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion, has denied any wrongdoing, calling the incident a "misunderstanding". He will be arraigned in court on June 3.
The incident had no immediate impact on his game, with Scheffler rushing back to the course after he was released from custody on May 17 with his tee time fast approaching. The 27-year-old quickly composed himself to shoot a five-under-par round of 66.
Scheffler was off his game at Colonial on Thursday (George Walker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)But in round three, he plummeted out of contention, going round in two-over-par in low-scoring conditions as the drama of the previous day caught up with him. Still, he finished the tournament strongly with a six-under-par final round to finish in a tie for eighth.
Thursday's opening round in Fort Worth, Texas was an opportunity to get back inside the ropes and away from his legal issues. Earlier in the day, CCTV footage of the alleged incident was released by Louisville Metro Police.
And Scheffler started positively, carding two birdies in his first four holes, but bogeys followed at seven and nine before getting into a terrible mess at the par-three 13. The two-time major champion flared his tee shot short and right of the green, ending in the water.
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From the drop zone, he made another uncharacteristic error, finding the greenside rough, and he failed to get up and down, walking off with a triple bogey – his first on tour in nine months.
Scheffler is seven shots back of leader Charley Hoffman, who hit the front with a bogey-free round of 65. Davis Riley, SH Kim, Martin Laird, Brian Harman and Tony Finau are tied for second at four-under-par.
Scheffler did not speak to the media after his round on Thursday and will hope to make the cut by the end of Friday's second round.