5/17/24: Mo Egger with Jed DeMuesy, From Valhalla

Former Local12 reporter Jed DeMuesy joined us from Valhalla Golf Club to tell us what it was like to be at the PGA Championship during a bizarre day in Louisville. 

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I get up this morning and Ilook at my phone and I see Scotty
Scheffler arrested as he's trying to makehis way to the golf course of Valhalla
down there in Louisville for Round twoof the PGA Championship. And from that
point until about ten thirty this morning, whether it was watching Twitter or watching
ESPN, it was like two anda half three hours of some of the

(00:21):
most bizarre, awful and then lateron maybe a little bit amusing television that
I've ever watched, and a bizarrescene Scott Scheffler arrested and then the world's
number one golfer and then he getsout of the poke and he goes and
he plays he just got done talkingwith the media. Unreal scene. So

(00:45):
we were going to do this,and like the idea was for me at
least to kind of goof around withJed. So you know, Jed to
music for his years at Local twelve. I think the last time we talked
with him was his last day onthe air at Local twelve. And he
comes back into town and he's goingto go to out and he puts him
on Twitter that he's back in town, and he I think jokingly says I'll
do updates, and I say,yeah, it'd be kind of fun to

(01:07):
talk to somebody who's at the PGAChampionship. Maybe maybe give folks an idea
of what it's like to go toa major, or for folks who have
maybe never been to a professional golftournament, what it's like to attend one
have some fun. But now thisis like the biggest story in sports,
and Jed was watching Scotti Scheffler playtoday and so now he has to like
go back to kind of being likea journalist even though he's down there with

(01:29):
his buddies. Longest intro ever,Jed, what's up, Hey, Mo,
how's it going. I think thelast time I joined you was after
the twenty twenty one PGA that Philwon at Kiowa, so I'm happy to
I was in attendance for that aswell, so I'm happy to join you
again today. So all right,So you guys are down there, And

(01:49):
by the way, Jed's also partof a podcast with Matt Edward's Tough Sledding,
so you should check that out.Two sportscasters turned non sportscasters doing a
podcast. All right, so you'redown there, like with your boys,
you're going to hang out when whenyou when you left to go to the
golf course this morning, did youhave any idea of what had happened?

(02:09):
We did. We we got uparound six thirty and we had somebody taking
us down to the course. Idon't think I've ever looked at a tweet
harder to make sure that it wasa real person saying something, Because I
looked at Jeff Darlington, I waslike, is that how he spells his

(02:30):
name? It just was so unbelievable, the initial report of what he was
saying, and obviously the tragic incidentthat you know, a volunteer was struck
and killed by a bus, soyou hear that, and then and then
you hear the Scottie Sheffler stuff,and it's just really hard to wrap your
mind around. And when we gotin the car, we had no idea

(02:52):
what we were in for, whatit would look like when we got here,
if lines would be backed up.We ended up getting here around which
is right around when play began today, and there was really no issue at
all. There was, I mean, it was business as usual, but

(03:12):
we just the entire car right down. We sort of had the time that
you did in terms of watching,you know, watching ESPN before we left
and then looking on Twitter on theway down and seeing the mugshot and wondering
it is all of this real?It was certainly bizarre. So he ends
up playing, and he ends upplaying. All right, did you follow

(03:36):
him for the majority of the dayonce he teed off to start his round?
Well, we we we We caughthim a couple of different places on
the course. It's really you know, you really got to kind of commit
to following a guy around and beingyou know, five or six deep if
you want to do that. Sowe tried to pick our spots. We
tried to go a couple holes aheadso that we could get a good vantage

(04:00):
point. And I mean you wouldnot but maybe you would believe, but
the amount of tree Scheffler shirts thatpeople are wearing right now with mugshots.
I talked to a kid, thiskid, this this dad, this kid's
dad not kidding tap me on theshoulder. He said, Hey, can
my son get on the rope line? I was like, yeah, absolutely.

(04:21):
What I didn't realize is that hisson had a free Scheffler shirt on
and he wanted to get We werehe was teeing off on six. I'm
sorry five, he was seeing offon five and we were standing there and
so yeah, I'm like, yeah, absolutely, come up on the rope
line. And this kid just startedmaking an absolute scene with the shirt.
And I said, how do youguys get this shirt? Is there somebody

(04:42):
outside selling him? He goes,No, he goes, we have one
of those cricket machines. And mywife came home from work this morning once
we saw what was going on,and she screenprinted it real quick, and
we came out here and I'm like, and he's not the only I mean,
they're They're all over the place,and people were just I mean,

(05:03):
I don't think he's going to getand I know he's he's probably rattled,
but he is probably so excited tojust go home and take his shoes off
and unwind, Like it's got tobe one of the most ridiculous days.
He goes from what happened to himthis morning to eighteen holes of free Scotty,
free Scotty. I mean it justhad to be lead. Yeah.

(05:29):
Yeah, I mean he's the bestgolfer in the world. I mean he's
I mean that that just shows youyou know, I saw somebody. I
mean, there's so many things thatwere said, but you know, you
can't stop him. You can onlyhope to detain him. I mean,
that's just really what it is.He's just he's just that good right now.
You know, he's a new dad. You know, everyone's like,
well, maybe you know he's anew dad, is you know, transitioning

(05:51):
in his life and all that kindof stuff, and maybe that'll kind of
flow him down. You know,this didn't slow him down. I mean,
this, this has all the makingsof him being one or two back
on Sunday and winning by four shots. I mean, I mean, I

(06:11):
am gonna hold off on judging whathappened with the incident this morning. I
don't know, But regardless, theamount of concentration that you must be able
to possess to not just get throughthe round and be marginally competitive, but
to shoot five under there and bein the hunt is. Look, it

(06:31):
goes without saying he's a great golfer, but that concentration is that's not something
I can relate to. Jed.No, not even close. Not even
close. And as we're talking rightnow, Tiger Wood is making his way
up seven. So you know tosee Tiger, and obviously he's he's having
a rough start at his round todayand he's got some work to do.

(06:54):
But all the comparisons, you know, maybe unfair whatever, you know,
in terms of what Tiger did,but that level of concentration hasn't There are
only a few golfers who have everplayed that have been able to dial it
in to that degree. And youknow, we're watching one walk by right
now on the seventh pool. SoScotti Scheffler is always going to have big

(07:17):
galleries. How much in your opinion, how much bigger were they because of
what happened this morning? Dude,you could have been up on the rope
on every hole that he wasn't on, not kidding. And it was rainy
this morning, so the rain mayhave kept some people away. And it's
the you know, the afternoon wavesI think started around one point thirty two

(07:43):
o'clock and it's picked up. There'sa lot more people here. But this
morning we were walking around and weactually grabbed a you know, a hot
dog or whatever, and we said, we said to one of the vendors,
he said, have you ever workedat PGA before? And he goes,
yeah, I've worked the last fiveI'm like, what do you think
of the crowd today? Goes,it's been dead all week. There haven't
been that many people here, youknow, yesterday, today, and all

(08:05):
that kind of stuff. So it'spicking up a little bit now. But
this morning, if you weren't followingScotty, you could see a lot of
other good golf and you could seeit up close and personal. Because may
have been weather, may have beenmay have been Scotty, but there weren't
a lot of people here this morning. All right, So for a second,

(08:26):
if you can set the Scotti shufflerstuff aside, what is it like
attending a major at Valhalla compared toother places you've been. I mean,
it's it's fantastic. I think youdo have to kind of decide, you
know, when you're going with agroup of people, what's important in terms

(08:46):
of are you just trying to seethe most golf shots that you can do?
You want to see people make putt? You know, you just got
to kind of have a plan alittle bit. But in terms of this
venue as opposed to others that I'veinto it, it's it's right up there.
The thing about Valhalla is it waspurchased by the PGA of America,

(09:07):
I think in nineteen ninety eight.So they had the PGA in ninety six,
the one that Mark Brooks won,and then the Tiger playoff victory over
Bob May and then Rory in twentyfourteen, and then this one, and
that the club has since been sold, you know, at the risk of
telling you something you already know,the club has since been sold to members

(09:28):
of Valhalla. So the PGA isn'tgoing to look as favorably on Valhalla for
future majors now that it's not undertheir ownership, if that makes any sense.
And obviously the incident this morning probablydidn't help things. This might be
the very last major. Have youseen a Valhalla? Yeah, what's what's

(09:52):
the craziest thing? Someone yelled atScotty Shuffler as he was playing. It's
a I'm actually right by the greenso I could be a little use my
golfe right now. It was ait was a song by NWA. I
think that's just as deep as Ican go with that. I understand,
Yes, yes, I get thereference. That was are you there all

(10:16):
weekend? And it was I'm notI'm not just here today? We wanted
to spend the day here and seeeverybody before the cut tomorrow and yeah,
just today and looking forward to watchingthe final two rounds on television. Somebody
just made a punt. Somebody didn'tI and I tell you what, I

(10:37):
couldn't tell you who it might havebeen, tigered I am. I am
eighty five people deep, standing inthe mud talking you with the last of
my cell phone battery right now.That's how much I care about you.
Mom. Wow, man, youare you are the absolute best. Well,
it's it's great to hear your voice. I appreciate you popping on.
It was bizarre to watch. I'menvious the fact that you were there.

(11:01):
And there's obviously a very tragic elementto this that should not be forgotten,
but nonetheless but bizarre television this morning. I appreciate you joining me. Have
a good time, man, Thankyou as always, all right, thank
you. Mi