Jason Magoci was awarded the club championship with an impressive score of 306, while Barry Stapleton came second with 311, after nipping at Magoci’s heels for most of the final round.

Daryl Henderson came narrowly third, only one stroke behind Stapleton on 312.

But the general consensus was that Staines was in a winning position before his disqualification, leading the field by around 10 points when he finished on Saturday.

But the six-time club championship winner was taken out of contention, after it was revealed he broke the rules by moving the ball.

A misdirected drive ricocheted off a tree to land onto a pathway, and Staines was accused of moving the ball to a more favourable spot.

The violation would have normally been a one or

two-stroke penalty, but Griffith club pro Bryan Trembath said the rule-breaking got more serious when Staines handed in his card.

“If there’s been a breach of a rule, there’s usually a stroke penalty if it’s noticed on the course, but if a player has entered their score and it’s not correct, it’s an instant disqualification,” Trembath said.

“But even if he’d taken the penalty or played the ball where it was sitting, he still would have finished a mile in front.”

Trembath said he was surprised that an experienced golfer like Staines would have made such a mistake.

“(It) was a pretty basic rule and he should have known,” he said.

“I’m not too sure why he thought he should have got it or not.”

But despite losing out at the chance at a seventh-straight club championship, Staines said he wasn’t too disappointed with the disqualification.

“We were going through the rules and it could be interpreted three different ways, so I’ve been disqualified on a technicality,” he said.

“There’s no point getting angry about it, life goes on.”

But Staines believes the rule he was accused of breaking was open to interpretation.

“It was just a misinterpretation of a ruling. It could have happened to anybody,” he said.

“Yeah, I’m disappointed, but it’s no skin off my nose.”