LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Well, this can’t be the kind of lighthearted PGA Championship diary that I wrote after Round 1, because Friday morning at Valhalla began with the death of 69-year-old John Mills. A security officer for a company contracted by the tournament, Mills was killed when he was struck by a shuttle bus as he walked across Shelbyville Road trying to get to work.
I don’t know Mills or his family, though they released a statement about him, saying, “He was working security and having a fun time at Valhalla this week. He enjoyed staying busy in retirement. We love him and will miss him."
At 6:30 in the morning, upon waking up and hearing that news, I had two thoughts. One, I thought of my mother. She died just before Christmas in 2022, and loved working events like the PGA. She worked for CSC at Louisville basketball and football games. She’d work golf tournaments. She liked making a little extra money, but more than that, she loved being around those events.
I bet I encounter a dozen such workers before I ever hit the course at an event like the PGA Championship. To think of how that death affects many of them, who may take the same route to work, and this family, it’s a difficult thing. A lot of folks in our community are either doing those jobs or doing volunteer jobs to help pull off an event like this.
My second thought, after waking up more about two minutes later, was, “The PGA is never coming back here.” A worker is dead, parking is just not good. It’s done. It’s been a good run.
Then, another text message, “Hearing anything about Scottie Scheffler being arrested?”
PGA Championship leader Xander Schauffele hits out of a crowd on No. 18 in the second found of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.
That would, in case you’re wondering, be a good text to send if you were trying to mess with me. Nice one. World’s No. 1 golfer. Xander Schauffele said he heard the news and “felt like it was some kind of prank or something when you see a mug shot.”
Soon after, a message from WDRB news director Jen Keeney. Jeff Darlington at ESPN is tweeting about it.
Expletive. Anyway, won’t bore you with the morning. You know all the news. Phone calls. Transcribing the eyewitness accounts on ESPN of Darlington and Dave Fleming, who were right behind Scheffler. Nor will I recount what happened. I wrote a story. WDRB's Jason Riley kept going into it to add facts. Not sure what was up with that.
We’ve had lots of reporting. (Side note: Our station and every other station posted Scheffler’s mug shot as soon as it was available. Not so much for Scheffler, because he’s a public figure, but for everyone else, I don’t believe in posting mug shots. I think it should stop. There are solid arguments behind it. You can google them. I’m not criticizing anyone, certainly not my employer. I understand how the business works. I just wish it worked differently.)
What I hate about these stories is that they are instantly politicized. I know there are issues that go beyond this one incident.
But I am always struck by this. Mills didn’t wake up knowing he was living his final few hours. He just wanted to get to work. Scheffler didn’t wake up thinking he would be handcuffed and taken downtown. He was just trying to get to work. The police officer didn’t wake up thinking he was going to be in the middle of a major national story. He was just trying to do his job.
I felt initial sadness for Mills and his family. And I felt frustration that the story, I knew, was going to be Scheffler and the police. And that Louisville was going to look bad, in the midst of what was supposed to be a time to shine. The shine is off. It’ll be a long time before the PGA returns, if ever. You arrest the No. 1 golfer in the world when he’s trying to get into the course, take him downtown, put him in an orange jumpsuit and fingerprint him, take his mug shot.
It's an international headache that events like this do not need. This city will pay a price for that decision. I’m not saying it was wrong. I’m just saying the city will pay a price.
The morning was a blur. Write, update, hustle to get cleaned up and onto a shuttle. Got into the press tent and noticed a cooler full of beer, locked up with a chain. Tweeted that they might want to fix that. Did a live hit on the TV news at noon. The first of three. In between I tried to watch some golf but wasn’t feeling it.
WDRB’s David Schuh slogged through much of Scottie Scheffler’s round out on the rainy course. He wrapped it up expertly at the end of the day. WDRB’s Sam Draut grabbed a fancy lens from Murphy’s Camera and hit the course to get some outstanding photos. Rick Bozich got Scheffler’s attorney, Steve Romines, on the phone and wrote an excellent column.
I talked with some players and others and wrote a reaction piece. Then, as the crowds filed out, at the end of the day, I went back onto the course. I wandered down No. 18 and watched Justin Thomas finish his round. He shot 4-under today to head into the weekend at 6-under. He said he slept through all the drama, woke up at 8:45 and heard what had happened.
Then it came to Tiger Woods’ group. Woods second shot on 18 went just into the gallery on the left side of the green. I had stayed for the very purpose of this whole, to watch Woods walk up that fairway toward the clubhouse one last time. He probably won’t do it again. He missed the cut.
In the fairway, he raised his left hand to his face, dismayed, certainly by two triple-bogeys on the day. He had played 1,114 holes of major competition without a triple bogey before Friday. When he got to the green, the ovation was loud. Nothing like when he approached in 2000. But it was appreciative. They cleared fans from where his ball had landed, and he chipped onto the green and made par.
What I had wanted was for Woods to pass by, and to take a picture of him walking up the green, toward the clubhouse there, one final time.
I got my shot, as well as I could get it. After a long day, it was about the only decent thing I shot all day. But sometimes, one is enough.
Tiger Woods walks to the No. 18 green at Valhalla Golf Club for perhaps the last time in competition.
As I sit down to write this, I’m struck by some of the wild text messages or phone calls I’ve gotten on this job over 24 years in Louisville.
Denny Crum’s job is in jeopardy. They’re going to hire Rick Pitino. Bobby Petrino was on a plane with Auburn boosters and school officials interviewing for a job that isn’t even open. A woman is accusing Rick Pitino of rape and saying he paid for an abortion –- he’s suing her for extortion. A woman is writing a book accusing Louisville basketball of using strippers and prostitutes to help recruiting. The FBI just implicated Louisville basketball in a national scandal. They’re going to fire Rick Pitino and force Tom Jurich out. Louisville’s athletic director and president resign within a day of each other. Chris Mack is quitting mid-season. The Derby winner tested positive for drugs.
And that’s just in sports. This is just Louisville. Things happen. Things you don’t see other places. Sometimes things you wish you could unsee here.
I mean, only Louisville that could give street cred to the PGA. Nowhere else. It’s a wonderful place. But you have to admit, crazy things happen. And not always for the best.
So here I sat on 18, to my left Tiger Woods is walking up the hill, to my right is the spot where a famous golfer was arrested, not far from where a beloved community member died, just trying to go to work.
We’ll not forget today, Louisville, not for a long time. But let’s try to remember it for the right reasons. Scheffler actually put it well. His thing, he said, will get worked out. The life lost is the more important thing. Scheffler shook hands with every officer he saw on his way to the clubhouse.
As I wrap up the day, and write this, I want to remember the life that was lost. And hope that, on this sunny evening after a sad, rainy day, John Mills saw Tiger Woods and all the others play Valhalla from the best seat in the house, and knew that he was remembered.
2024 PGA Championship Coverage:
- BOZICH | Scheffler's attorney says traffic chaos, miscommunication led to golfer's arrest
- PGA players react to arrest of Scottie Scheffler, and pre-dawn traffic fatality at Valhalla
- World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler charged with felony assault of police at accident scene outside Valhalla
- IMAGES | Scottie Scheffler draws huge crowd on 2nd round of PGA Championship at Valhalla
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