Tom Lehman thought he'd been disqualified Friday from the British Open.
He wasn't, but it was almost as bad for the defending champion.Lehman picked up a triple-bogey 7 on the second hole when he was assessed a two-stroke penalty for failing to replace his ball marker.
He finished Friday with a 1-over 72 to put him 13 shots behind leader Darren Clarke.
Lehman moved the marker a club head's length to get it out of the way for partner Vijay Singh - and then forgot to return the marker to its original spot.
"I teed off on the next, then realized it. I thought `Shoot, I didn't put my marker back'. I thought I'd be DQd and it would be an embarrassing walk in."
"I'm mad at myself and my caddie. Ultimately the burden is on me to make sure that things are right. For two of us to miss that is nearly inexcusable.
"Even when you're playing your very best you can't usually afford to give two shots to anybody. Vijay felt bad. I said `It's not your fault, it's mine that it happened'.
"I've been pretty penalty-free in my whole career. I've never missed a starting time, never not signed a scorecard and never done any dumb things like that. I'm a little bit ticked off.'
MORE AGONY FOR SEVE: The 20-foot putt wound up 10 inches short and it was a familiar sight for Seve Ballesteros. He'd missed another cut.
More agonizing for him, however, was that, if the putt at 18 had gone in, he would have made it for the third round of the British Open.
"I had a 20-foot putt for birdie and just did not hit it hard enough," said the Spaniard, who has won the title three times. "The grass grows a little longer in the afternoon and it was a little longer than I expected."
BOTTOMLEY POSTS 10 AT SHORTEST HOLE: At the shortest hole on the entire British Open rota of courses, the par 3, 126-yard Postage Stamp, England's Steve Bottomley managed to take a 10.
He pulled an 8-iron onto a bank to the left of the green and then flopped the ball into a bunker. The third shot hit the lip and plugged. Fourth landed in bank of the rough. Unable to take a drop, Bottomley found that his fifth shot moved it only inches in the thick heather. The sixth shot did the same.
Seventh flew out, he said, "like a rocket" and landed in a bunker on the right of the green. Eighth made it onto the green at last and he needed two putts.
FALDO ENGAGED: Nick Faldo scolded a photographer taking pictures of his 23-year-old American girlfriend and the gold ring she's wearing on her wedding-ring finger.
"You're here to take pictures of golf and nothing else," said Faldo, who reportedly prodded the photographer in the back with his putter.
"I'll get you thrown out," Faldo added.
Faldo turned 40 Friday and speculation is widespread he's about to marry girlfriend Brenna Cepelak. Faldo left his second wife Gill two years ago, but the two have yet to settle a divorce.
Faldo, who was 2-over 144 after two rounds, declined to talk about the incident. "I don't know anything about that," he said.
42 AND COUNTING: This is Gary Player's 42nd straight British Open. And the 61-year-old South African is nearing the end.
"What I will actually do is call it a day after the open at St. Andrews in 2000," he said.
Player opened with a 78 but came back Friday with a par-71.
"I'll be 64 then and even if I do decide to keep playing in tournaments, I won't be in among the open competitors after that."