Eyes may have been on Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, but Xander Schauffele has come out as the star of the 2024 PGA Championship.
Schauffele, 30, achieved his first major championship victory by outperforming his opponents during the final round at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday, May 19.
The San Diego native started the round tied for co-lead with two-time major winner Collin Morikawa before defeating fierce competitors Bryson DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland.
Scheffler, 27, who was arrested outside the Valhalla Golf Club on Friday, May 17, closed out his performance with 6-under 65.
McIlroy, 35, also attracted attention during the tournament after filing for divorce from wife Erica Stoll on Monday, May 13, days before the tournament commenced. He closed out his efforts in the PGA Championship with 67.
Schauffele’s winning performance came during his 28th appearance in a major competition, giving him his eighth PGA Tour win and breaking a 39-start winless streak while on the tour.
The glowing result comes after a week of unexpected global controversy due to Scheffler’s arrest.
Us Weekly confirmed Scheffler was detained by the Louisville Metro Police after an accident involving a struck pedestrian led to local law enforcement stopping the road outside the Valhalla Golf Club.
“At about 5:07 this morning, in front of Gate 2 at Valhalla Golf Club, a pedestrian was fatally struck by a shuttle bus. LMPD expresses its sincere condolences to the family of the individual who died as a result of that collision. All lanes of traffic at the scene were closed while the fatality investigation occurred,” LMPD said in a statement to Us on May 17. “LMPD personnel were also directing traffic around the scene. While an officer was directing traffic, an encounter with a motorist attempting to make entry into a restricted area ultimately led to the driver being arrested. We are in the process of conducting a thorough investigation. We are appreciative that all parties involved are fully cooperating,”
The golfer addressed the incident during a press conference after he competed in the second round of the competition. “I feel like my head is still spinning. I can’t really explain what happened this morning,” he said. “I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me. That was part of my warmup. I was just sitting there waiting and I started going through my warmup, I felt like there was a chance I may be able to still come out here and play.”
As for McIlroy, Us confirmed the athlete filed for divorce from Stoll in Florida and divorce docs reportedly state that their marriage was “irretrievably broken” and that he and Stoll had a prenup, according to The New York Post.
News of the couple’s split also comes nearly one month after they reached their seventh wedding anniversary, though McIlroy did not commemorate the occasion via social media.
