Scottie Scheffler arrested and taken away by the police is a scene that went around the world. However, the strongest golfer on the planet handcuffed and registered like any house mouse is not a unique case in our sport. There have been many golfers arrested for the most varied crimes.
di Sauro Legramandi
The first golfer to end up in handcuffs was Jack McGurn who wasn’t really a green professional by trade. Machine Gun Jack era a hitman from Al Capone’s clan and in 1933 his criminal career ended on a golf course. Just to give you an idea of the character: McGurn was not convicted of the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day massacre only thanks to the testimony (later revealed to be false) of his girlfriend Louise Rolfe. When the truth came out, Jack was arrested and accused of perjury but he got away with it by marrying Rolfe. At the time there was a law in the USA that prevented the wife from testifying against her husband.
His passion for golf pushed him in 1933 to sign up under the false name of Vincent Gebhardi to the Western Open of Chicago, shooting in 83 shots. The police learned of the fact (of the false name, not of the score) and on the second day the gendarmes showed up at hole number seven with handcuffs in hand. The American asked (and obtained) to be able to finish that second and (for him, last) lap. So he scored an 86 and instead of in the clubhouse he spent the evening behind bars.
Joe Ogilvie ‘smelled of alcohol’
In comparison, those of Joe Ogilvie, arrested for drunk driving on the eve of a race in 2006 at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, are trivial. “I heard he smelled of alcohol,” the officer on duty recorded. The alcohol test confirmed the policeman’s impression and Ogilvie was taken into custody for several hours.
Ogilvie has 399 career starts on the PGA Tour, 216 cuts made and one win (at Milwuakee in 2007).
Matt Every and that phone call from the neighbor
Still a good nose behind the arrest of Matt Every, two days before John Deere Classic 2010. From his room in Bettendor, Iowa, someone smelled marijuana. The report was immediately reported to the police who could not help but note and proceed with it arrest for possession of narcotic substances. Two of his friends also kept him company in the cell. The PGA Tour suspended him for three weeks.
In 2019, Every was suspended again for violating the rules of conduct on drug use. The second ban was for 12 weeks.
Every has had two career victories on the PGA.
Bowditch asleep at the wheel. And Allenby…
An SUV that skidded noticeably cost Steven Bowditch dearly after the first 18 holes of the game Waste Management Phoenix Open 2017. The police intercepted him and found the Australian professional asleep at the wheel. The alcohol level it was 0.2% higher than permitted.
His compatriot Robert Allenby was arrested outside a casino in Rock Island, Illinois after missing the cut John Deere Classic 2016. Allenby was accused of violent conduct and trespassing.
John Daly six months away from the PGA Tour
And the big golfers arrested?? In 2008, John Daly was arrested on a Sunday morning outside a restaurant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dally “he seems extremely drunk and uncooperative” was written in the report. He was taken to the Forsyth County Jail and remained there for 24 hours.
During his career, Daly was suspended for six months by the PGA for less than irreproachable conduct.
Tiger Woods arrested in 2017
In our time, the last sensational case was that of Tiger Woods arrested on May 29, 2017 on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Tiger was found sleeping in his hometown of Jupiter in a Mercedes-Benz during a difficult period in his life. made of many drugs after back surgery.
The mugshot went around the world.
Three years in prison for Angel Cabrera
Angel Cabrera didn’t fare well either. The 2009 Masters Champion was convicted of assaulting and harassing his ex-partner Cecilia Torres Mana. Without a judge’s permission in 2021 she left Argentina to fly to Rio de Janeiro. After six months, “el Pato” was extradited to Buenos Aires and convicted of a series of charges brought by Torres Mana herself, his ex-wife Silva Rivadero and a third partner, Micaela Escudero. The Argentine (who also included the 2007 US Open in his palmares) received a two-year sentence. But it doesn’t end there: the following year another complaint for assault and another two years in prison. Cabrera was released from prison in August 2023.
He has now been reinstated on the Tour.
Olesen’s Odyssey
A separate case is the Danish Thorbjorn Olesen who in July 2020 was arrested at London airport for having harassed a passenger on the flight home from World Golf Championship in Memphis. The Dane defended himself by explaining that he wasn’t himself after “five or six drinks and four sleeping pills”. Suspended immediately and for almost two years from the DP World Tour, Olesen was tried and declared innocent.
