US Golfers Pull Out of Ballantine’s Championship, Citing North Korea Worries

Two US golfers have pulled out of the Ballantine’s Championship event which begins on Thursday, according to organizers in South Korea. The brief statement said that Dustin and Zach Johnson said that they wouldn’t be attending because of “perceived unrest on the Korean Peninsula.”

Dustin had previously attended in 2011, when he won fourth place. He recently shared 13th place at the 2013 Masters earlier this month.

World ranked number seven Louis Oosthuizen from South Africa will be the top-ranked player playing for a prize pool of over $2.5 million.

In recent weeks, the US and North Korea have been engaged in a war of words over the belligerent nation’s nuclear development program. Eccentric leader Kim Jong-Un has repeatedly threatened to launch another missile test, and recent movements of equipment suggest that the new launch could come at any time.

In particular, South Korean intelligence has reported that North Korea has moved both ballistic missiles and launchers to its east coast. Because the launches are partly for propaganda purposes, they are sometimes scheduled for key dates.

One guess is that the next test could be on April 25, the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army — and, coincidentally, the same day that the Ballantine’s Championship is slated to start.

However, no one knows for sure, and Kim Min-Seok, a South Korean defense ministry official, also suggested that the next test could be months away. Another possible date is July 27, the date of the end of the 1950s era Korean War.

Chief of General Staff Gen. Fang Fenghui, China’s top general, said today that the Chinese military believes that North Korea will indeed test a fourth nuclear missile but he wouldn’t speculate on a possible date.

Either way, the US golfer pull-out means that the Johnsons won’t be in South Korea to compete for the European Tour event.

[Dustin Johnson photo by David W. Leindecker / Shutterstock.com]