Click here for David Tindall's verdict

Mark Roe will watch somebody lift the Open claret jug on television on Sunday night and think to himself that it could have been him.

It is a thought that will stay with him the rest of his life too.

In one of the biggest sporting disappointments for years Roe, right in the thick of things at Sandwich after a brilliant third-round 67, was disqualified along with playing partner Jesper Parnevik.

Lying joint fourth at the time and blowing kisses to his wife and twin daughters, Roe's week was turned upside down when Parnevik told him after one of countless television interviews that there was a problem.

The two players had forgotten to exchange their scorecards on the first tee - Roe joking later as he put a remarkably brave face on the situation that he was distracted by the Swede's bright blue trousers.

That would not have mattered had the scoring officials after the round had spotted it or if they had reminded the two players to check.

But they did not and although Roe wished that they had and Parnevik felt "gutted" they both admitted: "Ultimately it's our responsibility and rules are rules."

When Ian Woosnam had an extra club in his bag two years ago it might have cost him his chance of winning. But the punishment was "only" two strokes and he finished joint third.

At the 1968 Masters Roberto de Vicenzo should have tied with Bob Goalby and gone into a play-off when it was discovered he had signed for a wrong score at one hole. But he still finished second.

Roe, however, will always look at the results of the 2003 Open championship and down at the bottom it will only say "Mark Roe - disqualified."

And if anybody does not deserve such a personal heartbreak it is the 40-year-old from Sheffield.

In 1995 Roe suffered a marriage break-up and in severe depression about that went into the attic of his home and put a loaded shotgun in his mouth. He came close to pulling the trigger.

Three years later he married again and his second wife Julie presented him with twins Alexandra and Emily in 2000.

They arrived while he was out of action for over a year with a serious hand injury suffered grabbing the collar of his dog.

He eventually returned two years ago and now, at an age when many careers start to take a downward turn, he was producing the finest performance of his life.

And then it all ended in one moment of forgetfulness.

"It was a mistake I've never made before," said Roe, ranked only 306th in the world, yet suddenly in with a chance of the greatest prize in golf - and a £700,000 first prize.

"We obviously shook hands on the first tee and forgot to exchange cards. Therefore I wrote Jesper's scores on my card and Jesper wrote my scores on his card.

"I bet he was happy with 67, but I didn't particularly like his 81 very much. Unfortunately, that was disqualification."

Roe wants to remember all the good things that happened to him at Royal St George's rather than the one bad.

"I enjoyed the crowd, I enjoyed the attention. It was a real thrill and I learnt a lot about myself.

"I'm playing well again too and I'm going to think about that rather than disqualification. I'm going to take something positive from it. I'm not going to walk away with a negative because it's been a great week.

"I love the Open championship. I shall probably go out and shed a tear in private, to be honest with you, but at the end of that, when I see my kids, this won't seem so bad.

"I won't look at it in a monetary sense. There's point. These things happen. The rules of golf are there to protect the game of golf. And we adhere to the rules of golf. Whether I had won £700,000 tomorrow or £7,000 is irrelevant because I don't get the chance to play.

"I came in the scorer's hut and I triple-checked my scores, as I always do. I then asked the lady scorer to repeat my scores, which she did.

"I checked those off on the scorecard. At no point did any of us notice - not the scorers in the hut, not Jesper or myself.

"Then Jesper called me in after my interview and said there's a problem. I knew my scorecard was perfectly marked and lying on the table in the front of me there was nothing else they can do but disqualify you.

"I didn't rush in and I didn't rush out. Obviously after having such a good day I'm going to double and triple-check my scores. I spent a lot of time. It's unfortunate no-one noticed - but there's no-one else to blame by myself."

If it had been spotted before they left the hut new cards could have been filled out. Amazingly that is what happened soon afterwards when Phillip Price and Australian Stuart Appleby were discovered to have done the very same thing on the first tee.

Roe added: "Of course I'll watch tomorrow. I'll be with my family and there will be something inside of me that will just be saying 'I wonder. What could have happened?

"I'll wonder the rest of my life because I know the way I stood up today. It's something we'll never know."

Roe was reminded of Padraig Harrington at the 2000 Benson and Hedges International Open at The Belfry.

The Dubliner was five clear with a round to play when it was discovered by chance he had forgotten to sign his first round scorecard. He too was disqualified.

"I remember thinking he held up incredibly well. And he went on to play better and better.

"Hopefully I'll go and keep playing the way I'm playing and maybe do something special in the coming weeks." His first chance comes at next week's Irish Open.

Suddenly somebody raised the possibility that he need not be disqualified - if Parnevik had not scored better than him on any of the 18 holes. It would have meant accepting the 81 rather than 67, but Parnevik "beat" Roe on the long fourth and therefore there was no escape.

Parnevik was described by Roe at first as being too gutted to talk, but eventually he did.

"I feel so sorry for Mark," he said. "It's just really dumb. We sat there for 10 or 15 minutes and sat there until they said we were clear to go. Nobody spotted it.

"Of course it's our mistake, but I can't believe the officials did not catch it. I feel terrible, especially for Mark. He could be leading and it's such a shame."

Championship committee chairman David Pepper expressed his regret about the incident too.

"Sadly this is something that has happened from time to time," he said. "It happened with the potential winner of the Argentine Open a couple of years ago.

"We do from time to time discuss which card you should give the players on the first tee, but we've always taken the view that you give the player his card and they should exchange."

It happens the other way around on the American circuit, but when pressed on the "British" way Pepper added: "That has traditionally happened. And if you suddenly start changing a practice then there's twice as much of this occurrence happening.

"There was a discussion on this two or three years ago when I was on the rules committee.

"We do, in the scorehut, obviously try our utmost to avoid any of these occurrences. Only yesterday we managed to stop another of the player going out of the hut before he had failed to sign his scorecard.

"The players sit in front of one of our scorers, who check their scores before they leave the hut and he asks them 'Is this your scorecard? Is this your signature?"'

Roe, however, said that he was not asked that.

Pepper commented: "I've spoken to the person involved and he said that he asked whether it was his signature, but he didn't ask whether it was his scorecard."

For many years Roe's Open career has been remembered for the time he appeared with some other "characters" on the European tour wearing paper bags on their heads for a practice round and hitting exploding golf balls.

Now he will be remembered for something else. Sadly.