Two disqualified after error in scoring

Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik didn't correct the mistake in time.
SANDWICH, England (AP) -- Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik were disqualified from the British Open on Saturday after failing to exchange scorecards at the first hole and signing for the wrong scores.
"What can you do?" Roe said. "I've just played one of the greatest rounds of my life and I can't play tomorrow."
Roe finished with a 4-under 67 at Royal St. George's that left him three shots off the lead. Parnevik was at 81 to put him at 15 over.
"I don't think it's fair," Parnevik said. "It's the dumbest rule I have ever heard of."
They discovered the blunder at the end of the round, officials said. The two players failed to exchange scorecards before the start of their third round. That meant they signed for incorrect scores throughout the round.
"It's a quite comical error," Roe said. "We didn't exchange on the first tee, so I marked my scores on my card and Jesper marked his scores on his card. After the round I checked it three times, but unfortunately we are disqualified."
No dishonesty
Parnevik said the two players checked their scores with the scorers and two Royal and Ancient officials initially said they were OK. Then they discovered they had been disqualified.
"How stupid is that?" the Swede said. "We checked our scores with the scorers. We had two officials checking. I can't believe in the 10 minutes we were in there, they didn't catch it."
Parnevik said he felt sorry for Roe.
"He probably would have been leading the tournament after today," the Swede said.
Officials said if the players and scorers had discovered the mistake inside the scorers' hut, the problem could have been solved.
Peter Dawson, secretary of the rule-making Royal and Ancient Club, said the organizers accepted some of the blame.
"It's one of the great tragedies of championship golf," he said. "Our checking procedures have clearly failed and we take some blame, but not responsibility."
"We feel very bad about this," he added. "We like to think we have procedures in place. We have stopped a number of players being disqualified already this week."