Will Zalatoris says players discussed delaying, canceling PGA Championship second round

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A small group of players discussed not playing the second round of the PGA Championship as scheduled following the death of a pedestrian outside of Valhalla Golf Club, as well as the arrest of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Will Zalatoris detailed the 20-30 minute conversation, which took place in the Valhalla locker room, to a small group of reporters after his round Friday afternoon. The group of unnamed players considered approaching the PGA of America about the cancellation or delay of Friday’s play, he said.

“Some of the guys were talking about, wondering if we should even play today,” Zalatoris said. “At one point there were a group of guys in the locker room talking about going to the PGA of America about it, but I think it was dead in the water in the locker room. It was bizarre. We just didn’t know … when Scottie was going to get out, any of the details.”

Tee times were delayed by one hour and 20 minutes on Friday after a shuttle bus struck and killed John Mills, who was working for a tournament vendor. The PGA moved the first tee times from 7:15 a.m. ET to 8:35.

Scheffler, who was arrested at the Valhalla entrance at 6:20 a.m. while trying to navigate the traffic congestion, was released at 9:12 and made his 10:08 tee time but had a dramatically shortened practice routine.

Zalatoris said players were concerned both about the death of Mills and the detainment of Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion. The Dallas resident, who has known Scheffler since both were kids, explained how shaken up players were ahead of the second round of the championship. He did not name the players who conducted the group discussion in the locker room.

“The fatality happened, hey it was maybe let’s not try to rush this thing in. It happened right in front of the gates. Let’s push this back three to four hours or something and we can make it up on the weekend. When it happened with Scottie we were just all shell-shocked and didn’t know what to do or think or say,” Zalatoris said. “In 20/20 hindsight maybe a four- or five-hour delay just to let the (Louisville Metropolitan Police Department) do their business and let them handle everything that happened because a life was lost and let us come in as normal as possible, and unfortunately world No. 1 got arrested. This is the world of golf to a T right now. There’s no such thing as normality.”

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(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)