It seems that Oklahoma-born Dale Douglass is something of a legendary figure in Colorado, his adopted state. He went to university there and has made his home at Castle Pines, near Denver. So it was no great surprise that he should have opted out of a recent US Seniors' Tour event, to play in the Colorado Senior Open, with its modest fund of $70,000.

Locals were so delighted that on the eve of the tournament, they held a special banquet in honour of the 64-year-old and presented him with a Colorado Open Lifetime Achievement Award. Less that 24 hours later, he was disqualified from the tournament for violating a rule of the state's Golf Association.

"It was an interesting weekend," was the classic understatement from Douglass, who added, superfluously, that he was looking forward to returning to the Senior Tour. His crime? On discovering spikemarks on the greens, a handful of players reported the matter to officials, who identified Douglass as the culprit. "I wasn't aware of the rule," he said bleakly.