Even before the leaderboard took shape this past weekend, the 2025 PGA Championship served as a reminder that it’s been one year since Scottie Scheffler was arrested while attempting to enter last year’s event.
And after Scheffler cruised to a five-stroke victory to earn the third major championship of his career, Nike was ready to celebrate accordingly.
In an ad released just shortly after the 28-year-old’s tournament-clinching final round on Sunday, the Portland-based apparel and shoe giant poked fun at last year’s legal troubles. “Best player in the world? Guilty,” the ad reads, with a Nike swoosh sandwiched between the writing and an image of Scheffler holding his follow-through after a drive.
“The verdict is in,” Nike’s official X account captioned a post sharing the ad. “World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the PGA Champion.”
The verdict is in.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the PGA Champion. pic.twitter.com/0PVASNw4w3
— Nike (@Nike) May 18, 2025
Scheffler’s victory on Sunday provided a storybook-like ending to a weekend full of reminders regarding one of the stranger sports stories in recent memory.
On Friday, Jeff Darlington and Scheffler reflected on the arrest, which the ESPN reporter broke the news of while on-site outside of the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. The two-time Masters champion was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, a class-C felony, and three misdemeanors after allegedly failing to abide by an officer’s directions following an unrelated fatal accident that had occurred near the course.
“One thing that I specifically remember was you trying to approach the police officers and say something like, ‘hey, you know, I don’t know what’s going on, but something ain’t right. Like, this is Scottie, he’s playing in the golf tournament,’” Scheffler told Darlington in the segment. “And you can just hear the tone of their voice that it went from just normal pulling into the golf course to a situation that was very serious for whatever reason it was.”
The charges against Scheffler were ultimately dropped less than two weeks later, with all involved agreeing that it was a big misunderstanding. Still, it very much remains an unlikely part of the No. 1 golfer’s lore, especially when it comes to his annual participation in the PGA Championship.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.