Standing tall (Part One)

IT'S fair to say that British golfers have performed poorly in recent Open Championships. This decade we have already had one South African and six American champions as our men have either missed the cut or imploded over the weekend.

However, it is true to say, there have been a few hard-luck stories along the way. At Royal Lytham in 2001 Ian Woosnam birdied the first hole to tie for the lead with Niclas Fasth, already in the clubhouse at seven-under. Moments later he was informed by his caddy, Miles Byrne, that there were 15 clubs, due to two drivers, in the bag. A two-shot penalty ensued and the Welshman's momentum was lost, fatally.

A year later Gary Evans covered the first 16 holes of his final round in eight-under to give himself a real chance of glory at Muirfield, only to lose his ball despite hundreds now following the Englishman after a pulled approach to the par-five 17th. A miraculous bogey six followed but so did another bogey at the last and he finished one short of a four-way play-off.

Then, at Royal St Georges in 2003, there was Mark Roe. Although it wasn't final-day heartache for the Englishman. His misfortune fell on the Saturday afternoon after signing for a best-of-the-week 67 which would have left him just two shots off the leader, Thomas Bjorn.

The problem was, he had signed the wrong card. He and playing partner Jesper Parnevik had forgotten to swap on the first tee.

The week had started with a six-over 77 but by Friday night he had moved up to 28th after a one-under 70 only Ernie Els broke 70 that day and by early evening on Saturday he was tied for third and in a dream final-day pairing with Tiger Woods.
Then, after giving one of a number of television interviews, Parnevik informed his playing partner that there was a problem.

Minutes later the news broke that he had been disqualified.

"For 21 years I have never not changed my scorecard on the first tee and I've never been disqualified for a scorecard infringement. The fact that it happened on the Saturday of the Open Championship, when I'm within two shots of the lead, is kind of spooky but thats just life," he reflected in typically philosophical style.

Amazingly the same thing happened with Phillip Price and Stuart Appleby shortly afterwards but the error was spotted in time.
Last October Roe hung up his clubs after tying for 15th in the Dunhill Links Championship after a 21-year playing career which saw him prevail three times on the European Tour, represent England in the Dunhill Cup and World Cup and play in the US Masters and US Open.

But he will always be best remembered for his scorecard blunder at Sandwich and, equally, for the manner in which he took his punishment.

"The rules are there, there's no point kicking chairs over in the scorers' hut. It's my mistake, I didn't change my scorecard with Jesper on the first tee. Nobody noticed it but ultimately if there had been 500 people in that office and nobody had noticed it it would still have been my fault.

"It happens that way sometimes and everything happens for a reason. People still come up to me to this day and say you handled that great I was really impressed by the way you coped with everything. I had one guy, a steel worker from Pennsylvania who wrote to me, saying that was the very reason that he plays the game of golf. It was a very touching letter."

At the time Roe typically even managed to see the funny side, saying that he was distracted by the Swede's bright blue trousers. As he faced the world's golfing press immediately afterwards he added: "It was quite a comical error really. I wrote down his scores on my card and he wrote my scores on his card. I checked that scorecard three times when I came in, checked the figures, counted them up with the scorer and nobody in the scorers hut noticed we had the wrong scorecards. I bet he was happy with 67 but I didnt particularly like his 81 very much.

"What can I do? I have just played one of the greatest rounds of my life and I can't play on Sunday. I am usually very diligent, very careful with the scorecard and it is just an accident. But at the end of the day that is life and I will go home and see my wife and children."

Click here for part two