Cheat charge hovers over cleared Kang

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Sung Kang played himself into early British Open contention Thursday when he posted a 2-under-par 69. By some accounts, though, Kang shouldn’t even be in the field this week at Carnoustie.

Had it not been for Kang’s finalround 64 and third-place finish in the 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 had it been up to his finalround playing partner, Joel Dah- men, who accused Kang of cheating by taking a questionable drop on a ball he hit into a water hazard.

Dahmen tweeted after the round: “Kang cheated. He took a bad drop from a hazard. I argued until I was blue. I lost.’’

The PGA Tour, after play was completed, exonerated Kang from any wrongdoing, stating that a rules official interviewed players and determined that Kang had taken a proper drop.

When asked Thursday after his round about the incident, Kang initially said, “I’m really trying to have fun and enjoy, enjoy the golf course. I really want to say a lot of things about it, the truth about what happened, but I have no comment, because no matter what I say, some people are going to trust it. ... So I’m just focusing on my golf game.’’

Dahmen is not in the Open field this week.

It was a disappointing opening round for 2013 Open champion Phil Mickelson, who shot a 2-over-par 73. Mickelson had only two birdies to go with two bogeys and a double on the par-3 16th.

“I just doubled 16, hit a bad shot and doubled,’’ Mickelson said. “Otherwise, I played pretty well.’’

Erik Van Rooyen, who had the early lead, finished his opening round one shot out of the lead with a 4-under-par 67. Van Rooyen, from South Africa, led the Irish Open a few weeks ago by four shots entering the final round and finished tied for fourth.

One of the many things that make the Open Championship so different from the three others majors is how late it stays light outside — until at least 10 at night. That allows the Open to play all 156 competitors off the first tee and still get the rounds in.

Sandy Lyle, the 1985 Open winner and 60 years old now, struck the first shot at 6:35 a.m. Thursday. The final group of the day — Matt Jones, Curtis Thomas and Bronson Burgoon — teed off at 4:16 p.m.

Lyle, playing alongside Martin Kaymer and Andy Sullivan, shot a respectable 4-over 75 while his younger playing partners both shot even-par 71s.