Unlucky 13th for Clarke

An eventful few days in Darren Clarke’s career continued today with an unusual one-stroke penalty in the BMW Championship at Wentworth.

Clarke’s level-par 72 was changed to a one-over 73 after chief referee John Paramor changed the decision of another referee out on the course.

On the 13th hole Clarke dropped his ball on his marker, which flipped over. The Ulsterman asked the referee if there was a penalty and was told there was not.

But the referee subsequently felt uneasy and spoke to Paramor, who informed Clarke at the end of the round that he had infringed the rules.

Remarkably, the same thing happened to Colin Montgomerie on the same course two years ago.

On Monday, 37-year-old Clarke led the Irish Open on the resumption of play and refused to accept a decision in his favour when he returned to his ball and found it in a better lie than he had left it the previous day.