Golf: Mix-up costs Paddison shot at St Andrews glory

New Zealand's leading amateur golfer, Gareth Paddison, has been disqualified from the St Andrews Links Trophy with the prestigious Scottish title in his sights.

The 21-year-old Wellington left-hander was up with the leaders heading into the final 18 holes only for a card mix-up costing him and Welshman David Griffiths, the overnight leader, a shot at glory at the home of golf.

Griffiths and Paddison innocently marked and signed their own scorecards after their third rounds on St Andrews' famous old course.

That resulted in automatic disqualification as the rules state a player must mark his playing partner's card.

Paddison's father, Gary, said his son was devastated. "Just when you think you've got it sussed ... along comes another lesson in life.

"At the start of a round the marker [non-playing scorer] normally hands you your own card then you swap it with your playing partner. But the marker wrongly handed them each other's cards and they swapped and ended up marking their own cards. Gareth is pretty gutted."

Paddison had earlier carded rounds of 68 (with three bogeys in his last three holes) on the new course and a 71 on the old course to make the cut.

He shot a 75 in his third round in windy conditions to slip to fourth, but was still within striking distance of the lead.

It was even more galling for Griffiths, whose third-round 71 would have given him the lead by a stroke heading into the final round.

But the mix-up was discovered in the scoring tent and both were disqualified.

- NZPA