May 17, 2024

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The Scottie Scheffler situation at the PGA Championship is one of the most chaotic episodes to hit sports in years, and it’s still unfolding. … Speaking of chaos, the fan sentiment surrounding the Mets isn’t ideal, and team owner Steve Cohen is walking back a suggestion that the club could be sellers at the trade deadline. … The PGA Championship purse is just one of several notable prizes on the line this weekend. … Plus: More on Brazil, Dodger Stadium, the WNBA, and the New York Giants.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]] and David Rumsey [[link removed]]

Chaos at the PGA Championship: Here’s What We Know [[link removed]]

The Courier-Journal

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 [[link removed]]). 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 [[link removed]] and his attorney [[link removed]] (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 [[link removed]] 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 [[link removed]] 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 [[link removed]] in parking lots near the PGA Championship for as little as $10.

Mets Owner Faces Backlash After Tweet Sparks Trade Speculation [[link removed]]

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

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 [[link removed]] $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 [[link removed]] 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 [[link removed]] 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 [[link removed]] much of what was the largest single-season outlay [[link removed]] 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 [[link removed]] 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 [[link removed]]. “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.”

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SPONSORED BY MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY

Promise, Growth Define Rugby’s Journey

A century and a half after the first rugby match was played on U.S. soil, Major League Rugby [[link removed]] is guiding the game into the future. In its seventh season of play, the premier professional league in North America is enjoying consistent growth fueled by competitive play on the pitch, committed partners off it, and passionate fans cheering everywhere in between.

Corporate partners like Globant, RTIC, American Airlines, and more are investing in the growth of the game, while The Rugby Network [[link removed]], MLR’s OTT platform, streams league matches for free, ensuring fans don’t miss a moment of the action.

Get your tickets [[link removed]] and discover why now is rugby time, America.

WEEKEND PRIZE POOL All-Star Weekend in N.C.

Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Front Office Sports tees up every weekend sporting slate with a ledger of the purses and prize pools at stake. Here’s what’s up for grabs this weekend:

PGA Championship, Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville

When: Thursday to Sunday Purse: ~$17.5 million (figure from 2023, final number to be announced this weekend) First place: $3.25 million

LPGA Tour, Mizuho Americas Open, Jersey City, N.J.

When: Thursday to Sunday Purse: $3 million First place: $450,000

ATP/WTA, Italian Open, Rome

When: May 7 to Sunday Purse: $13.8 million First place: $1.04 million (men’s), $760,636 (women’s)

NASCAR Cup Series, All-Star Weekend, North Wilkesboro Speedway

When: Saturday to Sunday Purse: $3.8 million First place: Individual payouts are no longer disclosed STATUS REPORT Two Up, Two Down

Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

Brazil ⬆ The country will officially host the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup after the global soccer governing body selected the bid over a rival, joint entry from Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Brazil’s front-runner status in the hosting race grew last month after the U.S. and Mexico withdrew their combined bid to focus on the ’31 tournament.

Dodger Stadium ⬇ Both vehicular and pedestrian traffic around the ballpark was snarled Thursday as fans eagerly sought a Shohei Ohtani bobblehead, the first depicting the superstar given away by the Dodgers since the record-setting $700 million contract signed in the offseason. Only the first 40,000 fans were slated to receive the bobblehead, while the game against the Reds ultimately drew an attendance of 53,527, and that disparity helped generate long lines of fans hours before the stadium gates opened. Also within that giveaway were 1,700 special versions of the bobblehead with Ohtani in a road gray uniform, and that limited edition is already fetching bids of more than $1,600 on eBay.

WNBA ⬆ The league’s new charter flight program will be in full effect [[link removed]] as of May 21. This week, some teams have traveled on charter flights while others have not.

Giants ⬇ Fans of the NFL team aren’t exactly thrilled [[link removed]] with the look of a new alternate uniform New York will wear twice this fall to commemorate the franchise’s 100th season. The jersey includes a thick blue stripe beneath white numbers and tan pants paired with red-and-blue striped socks, and dates back to 1933. The tan pants are from the ’25 season, and the whole ensemble is complemented by a red-and-blue winged helmet inspired by the one used from ’37 to ’47.

SPONSORED BY DICK’S SPORTING GOODS

Journey to the Starting Line

For this year’s 128th running of the Boston Marathon [[link removed]], the cutoff time was 5 minutes, 29 seconds faster than the qualifying standards, unfortunately resulting in more than 11,000 runners being turned away. But Dick’s Sporting Goods jumped in to give three of them a second chance to run Boston.

Dick’s Sporting Goods teamed up with Front Office Sports and the Boston Athletic Association to identify and chronicle three deserving athletes to receive race bibs [[link removed]]: John Neusch, Carly Curcuru, and CJ Reuland. These Boston locals, all of whom have qualified but have never run in the Boston Marathon, will now have the opportunity to achieve their long-sought-after goal.

Watch John, Carly, and CJ’s journeys to the starting line here [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters EA’s College Football 25 will feature several modes, including Dynasty, Team Builder, Road to Glory, Homefield Advantage, College Football Ultimate Team, and Road to the College Football Playoff. Check out [[link removed]] some of the graphics and watch [[link removed]] the official trailer. When it comes to the ongoing PGA Tour and LIV Golf negotiations, ESPN analyst Curtis Strange tells Front Office Sports Today [[link removed]] that it seems like “nobody knows which way’s up.” Jürgen Klopp, who led Liverpool to eight trophies during his nine-year tenure, gathered all the club’s staff for a photo with the trophies ahead of his final game before retirement. Watch here [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks The WNBA Rookies Are Creating a New Celebrity Row [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Major celebs like Kim Kardashian and Latto are showing up for the newbies. NFL’s Christmas Shake-Up: Netflix and Amazon Will Take It Over in ’25 [[link removed]]by David Rumsey [[link removed]]This is the new-age NFL, where anything goes, if the price is right. Preakness in Spotlight: Chance of a Triple Crown Winner Bolsters Status [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]The presence of Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan gives a big boost to the Triple Crown’s middle leg. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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