Mark Roe

Mark Roe
Personal information
Full name Mark Adrian Roe
Born 20 February 1963 (1963-02-20) (age 49)
Sheffield, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Nationality  England
Residence Great Bookham, Surrey
Career
Turned professional 1981
Former tour(s) European Tour
Professional wins 3
Number of wins by tour
European Tour 3
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament CUT: 1996
U.S. Open T13: 1995
The Open Championship T16: 1990
PGA Championship DNP

Mark Adrian Roe (born 20 February 1963) is an English professional golfer, best known for being disqualified from the 2003 Open Championship for a scorecard error.[1]

Roe played for 21 years on the European Tour between 1985 and 2006,[1] winning three tournaments and over £2 million in prize money.[2]

Contents

Personal life

Roe was born in Sheffield. At school he was a high-board diving champion but suffered a perforated eardrum, and while convalescing he took up golf.[2]

Career

Roe turned professional in 1981 and became a member of the European Tour in 1985 having been successful at the final qualifying school at his fourth attempt. He won three times on the tour, and his best position on the Order of Merit was 9th, which he achieved in 1994 when he won the highly prestigious Open de France and had several other top 10 finishes.

Roe represented England in the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1994, and in the World Cup in 1989, 1994 and 1995.

Roe retired from tournament golf in 2006, signing off with a 67 on the Old Course at St Andrews in the final round of the Dunhill Links Championship.[1] He now works as a commentator for Sky Sports.[3] He is also a highly respected coach, specialising on the short game, and counts Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher amongst the list of those he has helped.[4][5]

Accidents

During his career, Roe has been somewhat accident prone. In 1995, he was hit on the head by a stray golf ball which resulted in severe headaches. In July 1999, he tore ligaments in the ring and little fingers of his left hand after grabbing the collar of his springer spaniel, which resulted in 20 months out of the game.[2]

2003 Open Championship

Roe was just two strokes off the lead after the third round of the 2003 Open Championship when he was disqualified. He and his playing partner, Jesper Parnevik, had failed to swap their scorecards before play, meaning that both players had ended up signing for the wrong scores which resulted in their automatic disqualification.[6] The sport's governing body, The R&A, have since changed the rules, and failure to exchange scorecards no longer results in disqualification.[7]

Professional wins

European Tour wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of
Victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 19 Mar 1989 Massimo Dutti Catalan Open -13 (69-70-69-71=279) 1 stroke Gordon Brand, Jnr, Colin Montgomerie,
José María Olazábal
2 20 Sep 1992 Lancome Trophy -13 (67-69-66-65=267) 2 strokes Vicente Fernández
3 26 Jun 1994 Peugeot Open de France -14 (70-71-67-66=274) 1 stroke Gabriel Hjertstedt

Results in major championships

Tournament 1987 1988 1989
The Masters DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T17 CUT T52
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T13 DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship T16 CUT CUT T24 T67 CUT DNP CUT DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003
The Masters DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP CUT DNP DQ
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
DQ = Disqualified
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Roe ends his 21-year Tour career". BBC Sport. 8 October 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/6032247.stm. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  2. ^ a b c Mossop, James (20 July 2003). "Roe reflects on comedy of errors". London: The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/theopen/2408012/Roe-reflects-on-comedy-of-errors.html. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  3. ^ "Sky Sports - Golf - Columnists - Mark Roe". Sky Sports. http://www.skysports.com/opinion/0,25219,12935,00.html. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  4. ^ Mair, Lewine; Spander, Art (22 January 2008). "Lee Westwood has Mark Roe to thank". London: The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/europeantour/2289674/Lee-Westwood-has-Mark-Roe-to-thank.html. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  5. ^ Dixon, Peter (7 July 2008). "Mark Roe shows Ross Fisher a short cut to the finish". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/golf/article4282343.ece. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  6. ^ "Roe and Parnevik disqualified". BBC Sport. 19 July 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/the_open_2003/3080539.stm. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  7. ^ Hopkins, John (28 September 2005). "Unlucky Roe hails rule change that was on the cards". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/golf/article572095.ece. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 

External links