Golf Channel airing a taped interview with Michelle Wie West instead of live coverage of Scottie Scheffler's arrest Friday. Golf Channel airing a taped interview with Michelle Wie West instead of live coverage of Scottie Scheffler’s arrest Friday. (Golf Channel.)
GolfBy Awful Announcing Staff on

UPDATE: Golf Channel spoke to Sports Business Journal and explained their lack of live coverage was due to broadcast restrictions preventing live coverage from Valhalla while tournament play is underway, which is understandable. But it also had no one ready at their Stamford studio on Friday morning who could deliver any news, cut-ins, or ticker updates to their audience.

In the most shocking story to hit the golf world since Tiger Woods was chased out of his driveway by his wife with a 9-iron and crashed into a fire hydrant, Scottie Scheffler was arrested by Louisville police while trying to circumvent traffic and reach the PGA Championship on Friday morning. And the one media outlet that should be owning the story, the Golf Channel, was nowhere to be seen.

Scheffler was placed in handcuffs, arrested, and jailed on Friday morning after trying to get around a tragic accident scene outside the gates of Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. While ESPN and reporter Jeff Darlington were live on the scene and provided ongoing coverage throughout the morning, the Golf Channel was stuck showing a replay of the first round of the LPGA Mizuho Americas Open.

Darlington was on SportsCenter, Get Up, and ESPN+ live coverage of the tournament for hours. Meanwhile, Golf Channel offered not even a brief cut-in or even a news update about what was happening at the PGA Championship.

Golf media and fans were in disbelief that during this inconceivable story that the one media outlet of record that should be able to offer something was seemingly unable to cover what was happening in Louisville with Scheffler.

There have to be serious questions asked of what Golf Channel is doing at the moment. The network has live coverage on-site in Valhalla. Maybe it’s understandable if they physically couldn’t come on the air because of the accident scene outside the tournament. It just so happened that Darlington was at the scene during Scheffler’s arrest. But is there nobody anywhere in a studio, a production room… anywhere… that could offer at the very least a news update or a ticker at the bottom of the screen to at least acknowledge the Scheffler incident?

The world’s #1 golfer and reigning Masters champion is now facing four serious charges after being jailed on Friday morning of a major championship. The fact that Golf Channel is asleep at the switch is mystifying.