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Roe disqualification blamed on Parnevik "unfair" trousers |
| July 24, 2003; Source: AnyoneForTee Disqualified golfer calls for change to "blatantly unfair rules" that allow Swedes to break sartorial traditions  SANDWICH. It was a case of Swedish flare being too much for English flair and Sheffield steel as England's Mark Roe was dramatically disqualified from the Open at Royal St George’s on Saturday after moving into contention. The 40 year Sheffield-based golfer had just returned a four-under-par 67 to be leader in the clubhouse and just two shots off the on-course lead held by Tiger Woods. But despite triple-checking the card his playing partner, Swede  Jesper Parnevik, had handed him, he had, in fact, signed the wrong scorecard. Both players had to be disqualified for contravention of Rule 6-6d, which states that you cannot sign for a lower score on a hole than you actually took.It was a sad ending for one of the most unlikely challenges for Open glory, and who knows what would have happened on the Sunday to Roe, given that the little-known American rookie, Brian...Burt...Blair... Ben somebody or other [Curtis - Ed] triumphed with a score of just one-under par.  But the real reason for Roe's tragic story has now become glaringly clear. Unknown to spectators and officials, the player had been partially blinded by Parnevik's spectacular technicolour trousers during the infamous round. "To be perfectly honest, I was distracted by Jesper’s outfit. I simply couldn’t believe the colour of his electric blue trousers," Roe told a hushed press conference.
The player admitted news of his penalty left him "dumbfounded and absolutely shell-shocked" and called for rule changes, saying a "Swedish fashion statement" should not have denied him the chance to compete in the final round. Speaking exclusively to AnyoneForTee, Roe said of the incident: "The rules of golf are clearly at fault. Anyone wearing trousers that loud should be banned from going onto the first tee. It was like watching strobe lights all day - no wonder I signed for the wrong card. It was particularly hard when I tried to putt - you know the oldest rule in fashion is 'blue and green, never seen'." Roe is not the first golfer to reel from the psychedelic effect of the Swede's fashion sense. In 2000, after 11 years of grinding out mediocre results on the PGA Tour, US player Kirk Triplett finally won a tournament, the Nissan Open, but claimed his attention had wandered several times because of playing companion Parnevik's hot pink trousers. "He looked like the Pepto-Bismol [a US medicine in a bright pink bottle that relieves five common stomach problems, including diarrhoea - Ed] man," Triplett said. "That was great, because I was feeling a little queasy out there and the (Parnevik pink) pants helped calm me down." Parnevik is dressed by Stockholm designer J. Lindeberg, who said earlier this year: "I have a respect for the tradition of golf but I don't think the tradition of golf is the '80s look we have now. Golfing has always been very stylish, through the '20s, '30s, '40s - even in the '70s. Then in the '80s everything became huge. Guys started to hide their bodies."Lindeberg says he called up Parnevik in 1994, "because he's a Swede and he looked terrible." Mark Roe might be forgiven for thinking that he still does. |
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