A day after playing with Tiger Woods on Saturday at the 2018 Quicken Loans National, Joel Dahmen drew Sung Kang for the final round at TPC Potomac. Things got heated between the two in the final round in Maryland on the 10th hole when, according to Dahmen, Kang cheated and took an illegal drop.
Kang hit his second shot into the par 5, and the ball wound up in the lateral hazard to the left side of the hole. Kang maintained his ball crossed the margin of the hazard on the other side of it, giving him a shorter fourth shot into the green. Dahmen contended the ball did not, in fact, cross the margin of the hazard on the opposite side, which would compel Kang to drop closer to his original second shot and have a longer fourth shot into the green.
Kang cheated. He took a bad drop from a hazard. I argued until I was blue. I lost.
— Joel Dahmen (@Joel_Dahmen) July 2, 2018
It was a typical dispute about where or if it crossed the hazzard. It clearly did not cross the hazzard. We went back and forth for 25 minutes and he ended up dropping closer to the green.
— Joel Dahmen (@Joel_Dahmen) July 2, 2018
At that point, the PGA Tour took over. The PGA Tour responded to Golf Channel with a statement suggesting the ruling was correct with the information it had available and, perhaps more importantly, a lack of clear-cut information to suggest Kang was taking illegal relief.
“With no clear evidence to prove otherwise” feels like the key phrase in this Tour statement on the Kang/Dahmen rules controversy. pic.twitter.com/OrGm8Eoa54
— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) July 2, 2018
The statement reads:
During Sunday's final round of the 2018 Quicken Loans National, there was a discussion between fellow competitors Sung Kang and Joel Dahmen as to where Kang's second shot crossed the margin of the lateral hazard at the par-5 10th hole before ultimately coming to rest in the hazard.
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.
Sung Kang responds to the cheating accusations via the PGA Tour's communications department: pic.twitter.com/XwD2YIhcXY
— Josh Berhow (@Josh_Berhow) July 2, 2018
For his part, Kang refused to comment on the particulars of the drop in a statement to Golf.com, saying, "[Kang] 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."
Ultimately, Kang made par on the hole and finished in solo third, earning a spot in The Open Championship through one of four available to the top four finishers in the top 15 who weren't already qualified for the third major of the year.
