Danny King was left to ponder what might have been during an unscheduled flight back to Ontario yesterday.

A day after firing a course and tournament record 12-under-par 58 at Belmont Hills, the Canadian professional’s fortunes took a turn for the worst after being disqualified from the Gosling’s Invitational after signing an incorrect scorecard.

King signed for a par at the par-five 12th when he actually made a double bogey. The former PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada winner notified tournament officials once he realised his mistake at the end of Tuesday’s second round at Belmont Hills and disqualified himself.

“It was pretty disappointing,” said King, speaking from Ontario last night. “My intention was not to ruin the integrity of the tournament.

“It was a really odd situation where I guess I had to play three balls for a ball that was unplayable; one for a tree that was unmarked that was ground under repair and then the third one just playing the ball as it is.

“I played it the wrong way and assumed that I had made five and I had the wrong score and there were no rules officials out there.

“It was just upsetting and ripped my heart out.

“This is going to take a little time to heal up. But that’s the game of golf.”

Twenty-four hours earlier King was in the spotlight for all the right reasons after shaving four shots off the previous tournament record of 62 held by multiple winner Kirk Hanefeld.

“That was pretty special,” King added.

King’s compatriot and overnight leader David Wettlaufer struggled with the putter during yesterday’s penultimate round at Port Royal but still managed to hold onto top spot.

The Canadian carded a six-over-par 77, which left him two shots ahead of two-times Gosling’s Invitational winner Hanefeld with a three-day total 205.

“It was a challenging day, a couple of bad swings led to double bogeys and I had just one birdie,” Wettlaufer said.

“I played better than the 77. I played pretty solid but just didn’t make the putts as I have the past two days. The greens are a bit different here and more challenging.”

Breathing straight down Wettlaufer’s neck is the ever-steady Hanefeld who carded yesterday’s lowest round of three-under-par 68 to remain thick in the hunt for a third Gosling’s Invitational title with a three-round 207.

“I played pretty solid today, four birdies and one bogey,” Hanefeld said. “It was stress free for the most part.

“I actually felt more at ease playing today just because you can kind of let it go and your shots didn’t have to be nearly as precise as at Belmont and the penalties were not as great.

“The round could have been better. But I’m happy with it.”

Jean LaForce shot yesterday’s second lowest round of two-under-par 69, which left him one shot behind third-placed Zack Byrd at 212.

Byrd and Cody Martin were the remaining players shooting under par after signing off on a one-under 70.

Marcello Santi, who is among a bunch of players at 218 that includes past champions Joe Horowitz and Kent Fukushima, came in at even par.

Daniel Augustus led the local professional field after 54 holes and is also among the bunch of players tied at 218.

“I’m not playing bad,” Augustus said. “I just had a couple of bad swings and in golf if you don’t pay attention it turns into a big number. Hopefully I go out there tomorrow and do something decent.”

Bermuda’s Damian Palanyandi holds a seven shot advantage in the amateur division while compatriot Hav Trott has a eight-shot lead over the rest of the field in the senior division going into today’s final round at Port Royal.