Michael Kim issues statement after incident sees him handed a two-shot penalty at the FedEx St. Jude Championship

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Michael Kim is among the players taking on the FedEx St. Jude Championship this week, which Tommy Fleetwood leads after three rounds.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship kick-starts the FedEx Cup Playoffs, with the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings having made the field for the first event.

Fleetwood experienced a ‘mess’ in his third round at TPC Southwind, but remains top of the pile ahead of Sunday’s final round.

The Englishman, seeking his first-ever win on the PGA Tour, occupies first place on 14-under, one shot ahead of Justin Rose.

At the other end of the leaderboard is American Kim, who sits T67th on six-over, with only Min Woo Lee below him.

Michael Kim issues statement on FedEx St. Jude Championship two-shot penalty

But his third round efforts were negatively impacted by a two-shot penalty, which he has since addressed.

Writing on X after his third successive two-over 72, Kim said: “On hole 14 today, I hit a bad iron shot into the water.

READ MORE: Michael Kim claims the best links golf shot of all time is not Cam Smith’s famous putt at St Andrews

“I took a drop and it rolled near the red hazard line. I thought it was clear of the red line but after the round a rules official showed me a video of my drop and it looked like the ball was on the line.

“Any part of the ball can’t be on the line nor cross the vertical plane of the line like the first down or endzone.

“I was still annoyed after my tee shot, I didn’t take my time to make sure I took a proper drop and I was penalized two shots for it.

“Not my best moment and will use it as a learning experience. Luckily it’s not going to affect my standing for next week.”

Michael Kim deserves praise despite FedEx St. Jude Championship punishment

Kim has been one of the most honest and informative players in world golf in recent times, sharing many of his exploits on and off the course.

And the American certainly deserves huge praise for his latest statement, firstly for his openness and secondly for his insight into the ruling.

READ MORE: Michael Kim tells amateur golfers exactly how to hit ‘the most important’ chip shot in all of golf

But the one-time PGA Tour winner must now put the incident behind him as he looks to climb the leaderboard on Sunday.

That will, however, be a very difficult task, but he certainly shouldn’t rule himself out of a top 50 finish, which would see him progress to the BMW Championship.