Scottie Scheffler tees off on the first hole Saturday at Royal Montreal.
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MONTREAL — Scottie Scheffler’s father got into an altercation with a vulgar fan Saturday at the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club before Scheffler’s caddy — and soon after, the police — helped separate the two.
The event has already started Scheffler hit his tee shot on the 16th hole during Saturday afternoon’s alternate stroke play. As Scheffler and his partner Russell Henley walked to their car alongside their opponents, Hideki Matsuyama AND Im Sungjaea fan on the right of the fairway near the hospitality tents could be heard from one GOLF reporter yelling profanities at Scheffler and his wife, Meredith, who was also with the group, as well as Scheffler’s father, Scott.
At that point, the elder Scheffler pulled over and walked through a fan rope to confront the man before the officers who intervened were assigned to the golfers and Scheffler’s caddy. Ted Scottwho was still carrying Scheffler’s bag. Athletics Gabi Herzig reported on social networks that Scott Scheffler said the man was escorted off the course. An officer would only confirm to a GOLF.com reporter that an incident had occurred.
Shortly after the scrimmage, Scheffler hit his approach shot, and minutes later he capped the game with a 2-foot, 8-inch putt for first. His parents refused to speak to a GOLF reporter specifically about the incident, and Scheffler was not part of the post-round press conference.
Henley, however, was, and he was asked if he or Scheffler were confused by what had happened.
“No, not really,” he said. “Once it happened, we just refocused and got back into it.”
The incident was part of a roller coaster match that got more heated as the day wore on. Scheffler and Henley were 3 under on the front nine and trailed for the first 11 holes in their match before taking a 1-up lead at the 14th hole. On the 15th, Im hit his tee ball into the water left of the fairway, and Scheffler appeared to argue with Im and Matsuyama about where to put the ball before their third shot. After the argument was settled, Scheffler took the club of one of the international players and put it back in that player’s bag.
When asked afterward if there was any problem with the fall, Henley said he didn’t know. At the time, he was preparing to hit the second shot of his set, following Scheffler’s tee shot.
“I wasn’t there,” Henley said. “I think Scottie was handling it, but it looked like they came to an agreement. So I’m not sure.”
After the match ended on the 16th green, Scheffler enthusiastically hugged his fellow Americans, quickly shook hands with Im and Matsuyama, then continued to celebrate.
The win helped give his American team an 11-7 advantage over the international team, which is made up of players from outside the US and Europe. Play at the biennial event concludes Sunday, when the 12 members of the American team play the 12 international pros in singles matches.
In the third match of the day, at 12:26 pm ET, Scheffler plays Matsuyama. It stands to be one of his last professional rounds of golf in 2024, the most remarkable season of his professional career. Scheffler has won eight times around the world this year, including Masters and Olympic gold, putting together one of the most dominant seasons in recent PGA Tour history. Scheffler also made national news when he was arrested before the second round of the PGA Championship for a traffic incident before being released from prison shortly before his time. Those charges were eventually dropped.
