A Year After Jail, Scottie Scheffler’s Orange Polo Sends Social Media Wild

May 17^th 2024 is a date Scottie Scheffler will likely never forget. Early that morning, he was arriving at Valhalla to prepare for the second round of the PGA Championship.

Before he even made it as far as the parking lot, though, his plans were thrown into disarray when he was arrested following a misunderstanding over traffic flow in the aftermath of a fatal accident that had occurred before he arrived.

He was then detained and charged with “second-degree assault of a police office, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic,” with a mug shot released showing the World No.1 in an orange jumpsuit.

Despite all the drama, Scheffler was able to return to Valhalla for his tee time, and the charges were later dropped, but the image of Scheffler wearing the jail garb was hard to forget, particularly as it clashed so jarringly with his clean-cut reputation.

That's an image Scheffler himself later admitted would be difficult to shake, when, before the Memorial Tournament last June, he said: "That mug shot, I'm sure is not going anywhere anytime soon."

Scheffler is again preparing for the PGA Championship, this time at Quail Hollow, where Wednesday’s final practice day fell just three days before the first anniversary of his brush with the law. There, his choice of orange polo shirt on the course soon had social media recalling the shocking image of Scheffler in the jumpsuit.

Golf.com’s Claire Rogers wasn’t about to let Scheffler’s choice of polo shirt go without comment, writing on X: “Scottie Scheffler has worn burnt orange twice in the last year. First was a year ago this week at the Louisville Police Department. The second time is today. He’s got to be messing with us.”

She was far from the only one. Among the replies was a comment from one fan who wrote: “He is just speeding up the process this time,” while another hinted it must have been deliberate writing: “Scottie has to be online.”

Elsewhere, others also noticed the coincidence, with one fan writing: Scottie Scheffler with an all-time outfit for his practice round. Almost a year after being arrested at Valhalla, he’s back in jail cell orange."

Others pointed out that it was more likely a nod to his Texas Longhorns college affiliation, who play in a near identical shade of orange, although Rogers wasn’t so sure, adding later: “He went to Texas” ok and he still never wears orange.”

Anyone doubting that claim could then look at a further message from Rogers, reading: “Yes I DID scroll through a year of Getty images to confirm this,” and still another in response to a fan pointing out where he attended university, writing: “Correct and he has not worn burnt orange on the course in many years! Thanks!”

We may never know whether Scheffler’s color choice was a deliberate nod to the events of almost a year ago, but regardless, it certainly stirred up memories of that day’s surreal events, whether that was his intention or not.