Masters champion Mark O'Meara has admitted he may have broken the rules of golf on his way to winning the Lancome Trophy in Paris last September. According to the European Tour's chief referee John Paramor, a video of O'Meara putting on the 15th green in the final round seven months ago appears to show him marking his ball and then replacing it closer to the hole.

If the incident had come to light at the time, Paramor says the 41-year-old American star would almost certainly have been either disqualified or, if he had not signed his card, been given a two-stroke penalty.

Either way the title and the £116,660 first prize would have gone to Sweden's Jarmo Sandelin, who finished a stroke behind O'Meara.

There is to be no retrospective action taken in this latest example of trial by television, however, because the American Tour has accepted O'Meara's word that he did not deliberately commit the offence.

"It's a horrible moment when you are confronted with something like this," O'Meara said. "I was sent a copy of the video about a month ago and was obviously a little bit disturbed, no question about it.

"This is a matter of much concern to me. I sought out Ken Schofield (European Tour executive director) and Tim Finchem (US Tour commissioner) at Augusta. They wanted a response from me after I'd seen the video."

It shows O'Meara lipping out with his putt for par on the 15th, then choosing to go ahead with his short bogey putt from around two to three feet. First, though, he marked the ball and then replaced it - in Paramor's estimation about half an inch closer to the hole.

O'Meara said: "My recollection was that when I marked the ball my intention was to replace it in the same place.

"I agree that the angle of the camera on the video shows that I may not have done that, but you have to remember that my point of view was from above the ball and I can only think that I must have thought I had put it back correctly.

"My integrity has never been in question in my career. If I felt in my heart that I had broken the rules I would call it on myself, but I didn't feel that. It's just not my style of play and I'm very concerned and disappointed that this has happened."

The video tape has now by seen by a number of other players on the European Tour and has been a big talking point in the locker rooms in the last fortnight.

It was a television viewer in Sweden who raised the incident several weeks after the tournament. He contacted golf commentator Goran Zachrisson and the matter was then passed to the European Tour.

Paramor said: "I looked at the tape in mid-February and a copy was passed to Mike Shea (senior rules director of the American PGA Tour) the week before the Masters.

"In my own view I believe the ball was incorrectly replaced. If the incident had been brought to our attention at the time and before he had signed his card at the end of the round, we would have called Mark in to have a look at the tape and would have said to him `I am sure you agree the ball has been replaced closer to the hole, which is a two-stroke penalty'.

"If it had come to our attention after he had signed his card, but before the tournament result had been posted on the noticeboard, the penalty would have been disqualification."