Just hours before his tee time at the 2024 PGA Championship World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler got arrested. His mugshot went viral, the internet exploded, and his participation at Valhalla became uncertain. But fortunately for Scheffler, it was all resolved—and rather smoothly—thanks, in no small part, to a philosophy that Seth Waugh holds in high regard.
That’s exactly what the former PGA of America CEO revealed while speaking on the Vanity Index Podcast. The way he handled that day wasn’t about scrambling or damage control—it was about something called “deliberate calm,” a mindset that proved to be a game-changer.
At around 6 AM, Waugh’s phone rang. It was Scott Scheffler Sr., the golfer’s father. Before even picking up, Waugh had a gut feeling: This can’t be good news. Sure enough, the words that followed confirmed his instincts. “Well, Scotty’s been arrested,” Scheffler Sr. told him. At first, Waugh assumed it was a minor issue—maybe a speeding ticket. But when he learned it involved an altercation with a police officer, things got serious fast.
Security at Valhalla was already tight that morning due to a fatal accident near the course entrance. The confusion surrounding that tragedy played a role in Scheffler’s arrest, and as news spread, it threw the tournament into complete disarray. The start time was delayed, media speculation was running wild, and Waugh had a crisis on his hands. His immediate response? Slow everything down.
Instead of reacting impulsively, he followed a principle he had learned from Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger—the pilot who famously landed a plane on the Hudson River: “When things get really hard, people want to speed up and they want to go faster. And the reality is it’s kind of like you’re late for a plane and you can’t find your keys and you run around like a nut in your house as opposed to saying like, OK, where did I probably leave my keys?”
This principle, which Sully called “deliberate calm,” became Waugh’s guide for the day. Instead of reacting impulsively, he slowed everything down, tackling each step methodically. He quickly reached out to Louisville’s mayor, police officials, and Valhalla partner Jimmy Kirchdorfer, ensuring Scheffler had immediate legal representation. Kirchdorfer personally went to the courthouse, helped secure Scheffler’s release, and even drove him back to the course with a police escort—just in time for his tee-off.
The arrest situation wasn’t just about Scottie Scheffler
Despite the high stakes, Waugh and officials agreed that their concern wasn’t just about Scheffler or the tournament—it was about the bigger picture. “The good news about it all was that everybody had best intentions. Everybody, you know, they wanted to have the right thing happen,” Waugh said. “It wasn’t like we weren’t overly concerned with our championship or whether Scotty, you know, made his tee time.We were worried about, you know, sort of how the city was represented, how the state looked.”
Even media handling was done strategically. Instead of issuing a joint statement, PGA officials, the city, and law enforcement each released their own. “We sort of shared what each of us was going to do on our press release,” Waugh explained. “Everybody had their own verbiage on it, talked a little bit about whether we make a joint, you know, statement from all of us and decided it made more sense to go all go separately.” Ultimately, Scheffler made his tee time and went on to play exceptionally well, securing the T8th position.
Looking back, Waugh’s biggest takeaway wasn’t just about crisis management—it was about mindset. In moments of pressure, people tend to rush, but slowing down can be the smartest move. What could have been one of the biggest disasters in PGA history became a masterclass in composure—on and off the course.
The post Former PGA of America CEO Reveals Lessons from ‘Sully’ Pilot That Helped Him Navigate Scottie Scheffler’s Arrest Crisis appeared first on EssentiallySports.
