When Locke escaped Roger’s mistake

How ironic that the headline to my column that appeared alongside dispatches from Australia that Roger Wessels had been disqualified from the Heineken Classic because of a rules infringement read: “Know thy rules.”

Wessels was disqualified on Sunday after tournament officials investigated and verified a claim that he'd incorrectly replaced his ball on the 18th green during Saturday's third round.

An eagle-eyed golf spectator cost former South African PGA champion Wessels what could have been a substantial payday that, if he had continued to run in the top 10, could have equated to close to R200,000.

Wessels, was well-placed going into Sunday's final round at seven-under-par and tied for seventh place, a position worth more than US$ 28,000 in prize money.

However, European Tour chief referee John Paramour had no option but to disqualify Wessels after viewing video replays of the incident Sunday morning. The 39-year-old was disqualified under rule 20-3, for not including a two-stroke penalty on his signed scorecard. Wessels' playing partner, Swede Robert Karlsson, had asked the South African to re-mark his ball on the 18th as it was on his putting line. He moved his marker a club length, but then forgot to return the ball to its original resting place before putting out.

Normally the most careful of golfers, Wessels’ mishap recalls to mind a virtually identical incident when Bobby Locke won the last of his four British Open championships at St Andrews in 1957.

Locke won the Open by three strokes over Australian Peter Thomson but his triumph was marred by controversy, smoothly defused by the championship committee, when an objection was lodged claiming that he had broken a rule and should have been disqualified.

Locke had moved his marker to one side on the final hole to give his playing partner a clear putt and then, in the excitement of his victorious moment forgot to measure the requisite putter-head length back to the original resting place of his penultimate shot. He then two-putted from a metre or so for a par four.

The fact that the ball had not been replaced was noticed on a newsreel film, but the championship committee’s conclusion was that Locke had gained no advantage. He could have borne a two-stroke penalty and still have won, so the result would stand.

It was rumoured that it was Thomson himself who had lodged the complaint, although this was never confirmed. Suffice it to say that the relationship between Locke and Thomson was less than cordial.

Locke’s then record winning score of 279 - emulating the total he had set at Troon when he won the Open in 1950 - was commemorated by his equipment company releasing a ball known as the “Slazenger 279.”