Cheater accused could not stay long at rest at British Open

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Sung Kang played himself in the British Open match Thursday, when he scored 69 under the 69 mark. According to some, Kang should not even be on the field this week at Carnoustie.

If there had not been Kang in the last round of the 64 and third place Quicken Loans tournament three weeks ago, he would not have qualified for the Open.

And Kang, a 31-year-old South Korean, would not have finished third when he was up to Joel Dahmen, his final partner, who accused Kang of cheating by taking a ball doubtful on a balloon that he hit in a water hazard.

Dahmen tweeted the trick : "Kang cheated.It took a bad fall from a danger.I argued until I had a bad day. was blue.I lost it.It was a typical hassle on where or if it went through chance.It clearly did not clear the danger.We went back and forth for 25 minutes and he eventually got closer to the putting green. "

After the game, the PGA Tour exonerated Kang from any wrongdoing, stating that a rules official had questioned the players and determined that Kang had taken According to ShotLink , the computerized PGA system that follows each player's shot, Kang's second shot at the 10th hole by 5 went to an original zone when he attempted to cut the turn and dart. to reach the green in two. Dahmen argued that the ball never crossed the danger, which meant that he would not be allowed to fall closer to the hole. Kang was not in agreement. Kang ended up falling on the danger, 35 meters from the hole, launched it at 17 feet and made the putt to save the parity.

When asked on Thursday after his turn of the incident, Kang said: to have fun and enjoy, enjoy the golf course. I really want to say a lot about this, the truth about what happened, but I have no comments because no matter what I say, some people will trust, some people do not are not going to trust, and then I'm going to think about it more and more. So I focus on my golf game. "

Then Kang continued to comment

" I followed the rule by the rules officer, so I think I did what I needed ", did He said: About Twitter's Dahmen rants on Twitter, Kang said, "The way he just said it on Twitter was not fair. There may be different opinions. And also, it was made a decision by the rules official. So, nothing was wrong. I did the right thing. "

Kang and Dahmen, who are not on the field this week, saw each other briefly at last week's John Deere Classic, said Kang, but they were busy preparing their rounds.

Kang said, as a result of the controversy: "The first days, it was hard. […] I am really angry. "

" But if I talk about it more and more, it gets worse and worse, and it's not going to help my golf game at all, "he said." I have to think to play golf. From now on, I do not really try to think about it at all. I almost forgot it. "

Until Thursday

This was a disappointing opening start for 2013 Phil Mickelson Open champion, who shot a record of 73. Mickelson's # & # 39; He had only two birdies with two bogeys and a double on the par-3 16.

"I just doubled 16, hit a bad shot and doubled," said Mickelson. "Otherwise, I played pretty well." The pins were where I thought they would be.The course played as I thought, it's a very fun, fair and difficult test. "

Erik van Rooyen, who had the first lead, finished his first round He took the lead with a record of 67. Van Rooyen, of South Africa, led the team. Irish Open a few weeks ago by four shots entering the final round and tied for fourth place

"I did not shoot The last day," he said. "I always think that I played well. I was nervous. I will learn to deal with this. I will take this experience in tournaments like this. "

Van Rooyen played his college golf at the University of Minnesota.

One of the many things that make the Open Championship so different from the other three majors is how much it stays light on the outside – up to at least 22 hours This allows the Open to play all 156 contestants from the first tee and still get the rounds.

Sandy Lyle , winner of the 1985 Open, 60 years old, shot the first shot at 6:35 am Thursday The last group of the day – Matt Jones, Curtis Thomas and Bronson Burgoon – debuted at 16:16

Lyle , along with Martin Kaymer and Andy Sullivan, shot a respectable 4-over 75 while his younger partners even par 71.

"I obviously missed Sandy in his bounty, but you can tell that & # 39; 39 he always has, "said Sullivan." At 60, he is fantastic. It was a real pleasure to watch, to be there, to play one of the big game. It was really cool to watch. "