PGA Tour Issue Statement After Sung Kang Accused Of Cheating

The PGA Tour say there is "no clear evidence" that Kang cheated despite his playing partner's accusations

PGA Tour Issue Statement After Sung Kang Accused Of Cheating

There was a dispute on the PGA Tour this week at the Quicken Loans National where Sung Kang was publicly accused of cheating by a fellow professional.

The dispute happened on the 10th hole in the final round and Kang's playing partner Joel Dahmen was asked on Twitter why his group let through another group, something rarely seen on the PGA Tour.

The user asked Dahmen, "What happened on 10 today? Not often a group plays thru on the Tour. Must have been an interesting rules situation."

Dahmen replied with "Kang cheated. He took a bad drop from a hazard. I argued until I was blue. I lost."

"It was a typical dispute about where or if it crossed the hazzard. It clearly did not cross the hazzard," he continued.

"We went back and forth for 25 minutes and he ended up dropping closer to the green."

Despite the disagreement, he said he signed Kang's scorecard.

"At that point there is nothing I can do. If I don’t sign the card, a rules official will. I would just be delaying the inevitable."

Related: Golf's Water Hazard Rules: What to do when your ball goes for a swim

Michael Klock, who said he was running Shot Link on the hole, got in on the conversation and agreed that Kang cheated.

"He (Kang) sure did cheat. I was running SHOTLink on the green. That ball never came close to entering up where he dropped... Should’ve been 200 yards back. Told your caddie who told the rules official but Kang threw a fit and got his way. He won’t get away w/ that @ The Open."

Klock continued with a Shot Link graphic of the hole.

"Here are my SHOTLink points," he tweeted.

"Red “4” is where Kang got his drop aka claims his ball came back in before going back OB again. It went straight into the weeds/creek."

As you can see from the Shot Link image, Kang's ball crossed the hazard very early, with reports of it traveling left straight away.

He has then dropped two club lengths out from where he believed his ball to have crossed, which is what Dahmen disagreed with.

If his ball crossed the hazard where the graphic shows, then he is clearly in breach of the rules.

However, it is unclear where his ball actually did cross - we haven't seen any video footage and just how reliable is Shot Link?

Like above, if the graphic from Shot Link is correct then this really doesn't look good on him.

The PGA Tour released a statement backing Kang, saying there was "no clear evidence to prove otherwise".

The statement read:

“A PGA Tour Rules Official handled the ruling, interviewing both players, caddies and marshals in the vicinity.

"The official then took Kang back to where he hit his second shot, and Kang confirmed his original belief that his shot had indeed crossed the margin of the hazard.

"With no clear evidence to prove otherwise, it was determined by the official that Kang could proceed with his fourth shot as intended, following a penalty stroke and subsequent drop.

"The PGA Tour will have no additional comment on this matter.”

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The PGA Tour Communications department released this statement on behalf of Sung Kang:

"He is standing by the ruling that was made by PGA Tour Rules officials on Sunday and will have no further comment, other than he is looking forward to focusing on finishing out the season strong, and he is excited about the opportunity to play in The Open Championship again in a few weeks."

Kang parred the hole and shot a bogey-free 64 (-6) on Sunday to finish in third place.

That earned him $483,000 ($170,000 more than those one stroke back) and also qualified him for The Open.