Row brewing as Roe disqualified

Roe – hit the headlines.

A major row is likely to erupt between the European Tour, the PGA Tour and the R&A following the disqualification of Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik after the third round of The Open yesterday (Saturday).

The pair were kicked out of the £4.5 million tournament after they inadvertently failed to exchange scorecards and wrote down their own scores on their own cards.

As a result they signed for incorrect scores, the penalty for which under the Rules of Golf is disqualification. Officials in the scorers office failed to notice the error and it was minutes after completing their rounds that the pair were informed.

It was a particularly bitter blow for Roe, the 40-year-old journeyman based near Sheffield, who had just recorded the round of his life – a four under par 67 at Royal St George’s.

His round which included three birdies and an eagle two at the 13th when he holed a sand wedge from 120 yards – had set a course record, made him leader in the clubhouse and would have put him (at two over par) just three shots behind Thomas Bjorn with 18 holes to play.

The wrangle even back-fired on BBC’s television coverage of the event. Inside sources tell me that veteran commentator Peter Alliss and colleagues Mark James, Sam Torrance and Jean Van de Velde were so incensed by the error that the producers feared someone might say something on air they might regret.

Also James, Torrance and Van de Velde are members of the European Tour Players' Committee and on-course commentator Ken Brown serves on the European Tour executive as a players representative. Torrance’s regularly caddie Malcolm Mason was also on the bag of Roe this week.

The BBC rushed in experienced sports reporter Tony Gubba to do voice-overs on to the coverage until things had calmed down.

But it’s likely the row will not calm down until firm decisions are made on how scores are recorded and who takes responsibility.

Parnevik – who finished on +15 after an 81 – revealed that on the US Tour, officials have already exchanged cards of the players when they arrive on the first tee, to avoid such incidents. Each players is given a playing colleague’s card to record their scores, as well as his own.

At Sandwich, starter Ivor Robson hands a card to each player (with his name printed on top) and it’s customary that cards are then exchanged before the round starts. But in the heat of battle – this can get overlooked.

After this week’s of the meeting Tour players – when 2004 Ryder Cup captaincy is also being discussed – a new system could well be introduced in Europe and a demand made to the R&A that the US Tour scheme be brought in at next year’s Open at Troon.

Meanwhile Roe, especially, has missed out on an opportunity to score valuable points on both Tours towards his US and European Tour cards - as well as the chance to carry off the Claret Jug.

I have known Mark for more than 10 years and applaud his philosophical attitude.

"Ultimately, it’s our responsibility and rules are rules," he says." I shall probably go out and shed a tear in private, to be honest, but at the end of that when I see my wife and my twin girls this won’t seem so bad.

"I won’t look at it in a monetary sense. These things happen."

Hopefully, however, his suffering won’t be in vain. He will never be turned down for an invitation to compete in any tournament he wishes and his experience will lead to a change in the rules.

It seems crazy that when an event is served by up-to-the second electronic scoring, each match is monitored by a scorer with a clipboard and each shot is witnessed by up to 35,000 spectators on the course and millions on TV, players stil have to keep their own and a colleague’s score and at the end physically sign and exchange a scrap of paper.

It’s acceptable at club, county and international amateur level but when your livelihood depends on it and there are dozens entrusted (and many paid) to make sure scores are correct, in my opinion, someone else should accept responsibility.

Mark James was correct in his analogy when he recalled that 50 years ago Bobby Locke had failed to replace his marker in the correct position when tapping in for an Open victory – an incident that would have cost him a vital penalty stroke or even disqualification in normal circumstances.

The R&A chose to ignore it, saying Locke would have won anyway.

"Mark Roe was not trying to gain any advantage, so what’s the difference?" he asks.

Precisely.

What’s your view of the Mark Roe incident? Should the Rules be changed for the pros to either absolve themselves of responsibility or for the tournament organisers to monitor scores and accept responsibility themselves? Tell us on the forum.