The Irish golfer Padraig Harrington was within sight of a big tournament victory when he was disqualified from the Benson & Hedges international yesterday - for failing to sign a score card.
The slip meant Harrington, a Dubliner, was expelled before the final round, at the Belfry course in Warwickshire, where he was the strong favourite to take the £166,000 sterling purse.
The failure is all the more surprising because Harrington, an accountant, is one of the sport's most careful figure-checkers.
However, there were already two signatures on Thursday's card when it came to him, leading him to believe that he had already signed it.
Yesterday the golfer said: "I'm twice as meticulous as the next most meticulous man on tour. I check my scores four, five, six times before I hand in my card."
The mistake only came to light because Harrington had been playing so well, and had set a record for the redesigned course.
The Belfry's managers asked for his score cards from each day of the B & H event to frame and hang in the club. The European Tour was happy to provide them, but when they were dug out it was noticed that Harrington had not signed for his first-round 71.
The tournament referee, Mr Andy McFee, said: "This goes to the core of the game. The one thing that all players, whatever their level, have to do is put their mark on the card which they can then hold up to the world and say, `Everything on that card is exactly what I did today, and that is the score that I want my fellow competitors to play against'."
Harrington refused to blame anyone other than himself. "We know that the responsibility for the card lies solely with yourself. I've been doing it since I was 12, and this is the first time I've failed to sign," he said.