Scottie Scheffler became a father and a new uncle on the same day after his wife, Meredith Scheffler, and his sister Callie gave birth just eight hours apart.
Scottie, 27, and Meredith, 28, welcomed their first child, son Bennett Boone Scheffler, on May 8 in Dallas, Texas. The couple waited five days to announce the birth, which was one week before Scottie was expected to play in the PGA Championship.
“I think it’s just wild watching Meredith go through that. It’s just nuts. I don’t really know how to describe it, watching the little dude come out of Meredith,” Scottie told reporters at a pre-PGA news conference on May 14. “We waited, and it was a surprise for us whether it was going to be a boy or girl, so being able to tell my wife that it was a boy, yeah, it was a wild ride. Extremely proud of Meredith after watching her go through that. It’s nuts. I’m glad it was her going through it and not me because I don’t know if I could have done it. It was pretty nuts. Extremely proud of her, and the look on her face right after birth, she was just glowing, so proud of herself and so excited to have our little boy.”
The two-time Masters champion called their newly minted family of three “very fortunate” because mom and baby are both “healthy.”
The Scheffler family was even more fortunate than Scottie initially revealed because their extended family grew larger the very same day. Scottie’s sister Callie gave birth to her second child, a baby girl named Palmer Scott, in Temple, Texas just eight hours after Bennett arrived. (Scottie, Callie, and their sisters, Molly and Sara, are the four kids of Scott and Diane Scheffler.)
Callie admitted she wanted to drive the 139 miles to Dallas with Palmer to meet her new nephew, but she was unable to because of her newborn’s 2-day-old checkup.
“I was jealous that Sara and Molly got to meet Bennett before I did — in person, you know,” Callie told The Dallas Morning News. “We got to meet him over Facetime.”
The Scheffler family’s baby bliss was cut short when Scottie, who is the world’s No. 1 ranked male golfer, was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, before the start of the PGA Championship. The pro golfer was attempting to get to Valhalla Golf Club around 6 a.m. when police claimed he illegally bypassed the scene of an accident where a pedestrian was killed.
Scottie still made it for his 10:08 a.m. tee time, but he had been charged with multiple counts, including second-degree assault of a police officer and reckless driving. He was booked and had his mugshot taken before being released. Xander Schauffele ultimately won the tournament and the $3.3 million prize.
Scottie called the incident a “big misunderstanding” and there is no police body camera footage of the initial encounter between the athlete and law enforcement. On May 29, all charges against Scottie were dropped, per ESPN, Jefferson County attorney Mike O’Connell stated in a court hearing, which Scottie did not attend, that prosecutors would not be moving forward with the case.
